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Fałszywe straszenie bezrobociem!

Departament Pracy Stanu Nowy Jork wysyła ostrzeżenie:

Albany NY (Kwiecień 15, 2009) —“ Commissioner M. Patricia Smith z Departamentu Pracy Stanu Nowy Jork oświadczyła dzisiaj, ze Departament Pracy jest świadomy o mającym miejsce fałszywym straszeniu bezrobotnych. Ludzie ci bez skrupułów wymuszają opłatę za wysłanie petycji o przyznanie bezrobocia. Wielu Polaków staje się ich ofiarami w metropolii Nowojorskiej.

Departament Pracy nie pobiera opłat od zwolnionych pracowników chcących otrzymać świadczenie pieniężne dla bezrobotnych ( przez Internet lub przez telefon).Departament ostrzega nowojorczyków, zwlasza z etnicznych środowisk, żeby byli świadomi, ze pobieranie opłat jest nie prawda.

—žTa wiadomość jest jasna: nie ma opłat za złożenie petycji o przyznanie swaiadczenia dla bezrobotnych. Jeżeli powiedziano ci cos innego jest to niezgodne prawda.— —“ powiedział Governor David A. Paterson. 

—žJa popieram Commissioner Patricia Smith z Departamentu pracy za jej wysiłki aby oszustwo i nadużycia wycelowane w nowojorczyków , którzy szukają pomocy zostało wyeliminowane. Jest trudnym do uwierzenia, ze wykorzystuje się ludzi, którzy właśnie stracili prace i są w krytycznym położeniu.—

Commissioner Smith powiedziała, ,,Ja chce przypomnieć nowojorskim emigrantom, ze Biuro Departamentu Pracy dla Praw Pracowniczych Emigrantów może pomoc ci niezależnie od twojego statusu emigracyjnego. Jeżeli zostałeś skrzywdzony przez oszustów, zachęcam ciebie do skontaktowania się z naszym Biurem jak najszybciej.—

Biuro Praw Pracowniczych dla Emigrantów próbuje dotrzeć do emigrantów w ich własnych środowiskach. Biuro Pracy rozprowadza broszury z informacjami w jedenastu językach, w ostatnim czasie również po polsku i koreansku. Biuro informuje emigrantów o ich prawach i świadczeniach prowadzonych przez departament.

Najszybszym sposobem na złożenie petycji o przyznanie świadczenia dla bezrobotnych jest wypełnienie aplikacji na stronie internetowej Departamentu Pracy www.labor.ny.gov. Dla tych którzy nie maja dostępu do Internetu, proszę dzwonić pod numer 1-888-209-8124.

W 2006 imigranci stanowili 2.47 miliona zatrudnionych, czyli 26% zatrudnionych w Stanie Nowy Jork. W Mieście Nowy Jork imigranci Stanowili 1.76 Miliona czyli 47% wszystkich zatrudnionych.

Aby skontaktować się z Biurem Praw Pracowniczych dla Emigrantów proszę dzwonić 1-877-IMM-WRKR (1-877-466-9757).

Poland - Polish - Polonia, , , , ,

Dancing with your children

Two Friends Author New Book on Dance and Songs for Children

twofriendscoverMaria Bielski and Janina Dobkowski have recently co-authored and published a book of Polish children’s singing games and dances entitled “Two Friends, They Went A’ Dancing.”

The book contains the lyrics of ten popular singing games in both English and Polish as well as a vocal music score with chords. Clear step by step movement and dance instructions are outlined with the text. In addition, a CD of the recorded songs with accompaniment is included so that parents, grandparents, teachers, and children can immediately enjoy the songs and games. Each page has an original “wycinanki” (Polish cut-out style) illustration designed by the artist, Joanna Bielska, which can be reproduced for coloring or craft projects.

The authors created this book as a resource for anyone interested in folk culture. They hope it assists parents and grandparents in passing Polish traditions on to their children and grandchildren. Teachers, occupational therapists, ethnic dance directors, whether Polish or not, can use this book to enrich their classroom program, physical education curriculum, music and dance classes, and children’s events. The CD can be used during assemblies, parties for both children and adults, car trips, and sing a longs.

Both authors are teachers by profession and have an extensive background in Polish folk art, music, and dance. They have danced with the Polish American Folk Dance Company and organized countless folk dance workshops all over the New York Metropolitan area. They are members of the Polish American Teachers Association, which has its headquarters at the Kosciuszko Foundation, and the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Professional Women’s Association.

Ms. Bielski has been on the teaching staff of the Krakowianki and Gorale Children’s’ Dance Group of Greenpoint for the past several years. Ms. Dobkowski is a member of the National Dance Association and Dance and the Child International which fosters dance opportunities for children. Mana and Janina have been friends since their teenage years in the Polish Scouting organization. They have been dancing and singing together their whole lives. The authors invite everyone to grab a friend, young or old, and dance.

Poetry, Poland - Polish - Polonia, , , , ,

Poetry by Polish, Polish-American, and Polish Diaspora poets

Dr. John Z. Guzlowski and Christina Pacosz have co-edited two issue of the journal KRITYA that feature poetry by Polish, Polish-American, and Polish Diaspora poets. The April issue alone includes poems by 18 poets from Poland, the US, and England.

Dr. Guzlowski has also written a brief statement on the importance of celebrating the art and writing of the Polish Diaspora. writing and art are important.

Over the years, I would hear about a poet here or a novelist there who wrote about the Polish Diaspora, and I would track these writers down, and slowly I began to realize that I wasn’t the only one writing about the Diaspora…

Poland - Polish - Polonia,

Anti-immigrant feelings run deep, the KKK in the North

From The Daily News: In the shadow of the Klan

If the truth were known, hundreds of local residents had relatives who were members of the Ku Klux Klan in Western New York during the early 1920s. The Klan, which originated in the South soon after the Civil War, was a white supremacist secret society known for intimidating and sometimes killing blacks, Jews, Catholics and others.

The Klan and local immigrants are the subject of a talk titled “Clash of Cultures” which Oakfield lawyer and Genesee County legislator Ray Cianfrini will present March 22 at the Gaines Congregational Church of Christ.

Cianfrini stumbled upon evidence of the KKK activities in Genesee and Orleans counties while researching local immigration, he said.

“My father came from Italy in 1911 to work at the U.S. Gypsum,” Cianfrini said. “I’ve always been interested in the immigration movement in our area — why they came and why they stayed here.”

In the mid 1980s, Cianfrini started tracking the number of immigrants in Oakfield particularly.

“Statistics gave me an indication of the influx of what they called ‘new’ immigrants to this area,” he said. “All were primarily males and predominantly Italian.”

“Old” immigrants were the English, Irish, German and Scottish, while the Italians and Polish were called “new” immigrants. From 1892 to 1925, the Italian population of Oakfield went from 16 percent of the total population of foreign-born to 58 percent. They all worked either in the gypsum mines or canning factory.

The “old” immigrants represented all the power in the area — they bought all the land, ran all the businesses and controlled all the boards, Cianfrini said.

“Then comes the ‘new’ immigrants, creating what I call the ‘Clash of Cultures,'” he said. “They weren’t welcome or liked.”

In the late 1980s, a client came into Cianfrini’s office with a bunch of pictures he had found in the house of a relative. They included pictures of a large number of Ku Klux Klan members at a funeral of an Oakfield man, the man’s burial in Reed Cemetery, a ceremonial burning of a cross after and a group of Klansmen who walked into a church service at the Oakfield-Alabama Baptist Church.

Cianfrini was immediately intrigued.

“What was the Ku Klux Klan doing in Oakfield, I wanted to know,” Cianfrini said.

He found the group had a revitalization in the North which started in the 1920s and lasted through the early 1930s. By the time the state Legislature banned the group, it wasn’t so much anti-Blacks as it was anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish and anti-immigrant, Cianfrini said.

In 1924, Klansmen announced they would march in Batavia’s Labor Day parade, and in response, the Rochester Journal and Post Express reported if the KKK marched, the newspaper would print the names of all its members in the paper — which it did.

In his research, Cianfrini was able to obtain a list compiled by the Buffalo Police Department naming all the members of the KKK in Erie, Genesee and Orleans counties. Hundreds of names in Genesee and half a dozen in Orleans County are well-known names, even now…

Perspective, Political, , , , ,

All for fear

From TPMCafe: Huntington revisited

After Professor Samuel Huntington passed away on December 24, I held off commenting on his work during the first 30 days of mourning out of respect for the norms that govern such a period. I believe we are now ready for a balanced review of his work.

The theme that runs throughout Huntington’s various works is best characterized as a theory of fear. His books typically identify a mounting threat, such as Mexican immigrants, Islamic civilization, or democratic proclivities, and then point to the need for strong national-unity building measures and mobilization of the people (including militarization) in response to the barbarians at the gates. Sometimes, the argument is formulated in basically analytical terms: If the required vigorous responses to the particular challenge at hand are not forthcoming, various calamities will ensue (e.g., the U.S. will lose a large part of its territory to Mexico and its Anglo-Protestant identity will be undermined) that will implicitly call for stronger countermeasures. In other cases, advocacy for powerful antidotes is quite explicit. As Huntington puts it in the Foreword to Who Are We?, he is writing as a patriot and a scholar, in that order.

Taken on its own, the threat-response thesis is unproblematic, a correlation the validity of which even people without social training can readily discern, and one that has often been repeated in the annals of social analysis. When the Nazis were about to overrun Britain, the country suspended habeas corpus. And few, even among the strongest supporters of Israel, would deny that while continuous threats from armed neighbors and terrorists and the responses to these threats have helped keep the segments of Israeli society together, they have also involved a measure of militarization and have imposed limits on civil rights.

The key issue then is to determine whether a nation truly faces particular threats or whether such concerns are largely drummed up, if not totally manufactured–say, in order to keep a nation under the control of one powerful elite or another and to make its citizens accept various governmental measures that they otherwise would not tolerate. These measures might include the curtailment of rights, economic belt-tightening, and discrimination against foreigners, among others. It is a familiar issue, seen for example in the debates over whether or not Saddam actually possessed nuclear weapons that could pose an imminent threat to the United States. Even more recently, it has been witnessed in the argument over whether or not Social Security is indeed in “crisis.” We must ask: If the various threats are real, what is their magnitude? And if the dangers are vastly exaggerated, what purposes are served by such a politics of fear…

A good read, putting our country’s trends in perspective. The only point I would make is that Huntington just represented one side of the fear mongering elitist class. It really isn’t left/right, liberal/conservative, Democrat/Republican. The sins are the same, the power grab in a different dress; with all the dresses from the same nation over individual dressmaker. Sadly, our rights diminish, our freedoms like sands through the fingers of a fear filled child.

Perspective, Poland - Polish - Polonia, , , , ,

Learning culture, from the family on up

From the Buffalo News: Dance troupe, trip to Poland connect teen to her roots

America, the land of the free and the home of the brave. But where did we come from? At one point in history, your ancestors likely emigrated to the U. S. from someplace else. Do you know from where —“and when —“ they came?

Nineteen-year-old Christina Slomczewski does.

Christina, a sophomore at Daemen College, takes great pride in her family’s history. She grew up in a home in Buffalo based on Polish traditions, and she often heard her grandmother speak the language.

—As a child, I always heard my grandmother talking to family and friends in Polish, and it always seemed like a bonding experience,— said Christina.

Christina’s great-great-grandparents emigrated to the United States. Even though her ties to Poland are not extremely close, the tradition has been passed down since those first relatives set foot on American soil. The family eats Polish foods such as ham, potatoes, pierogi a dough pocket filled with fruit, meat, cheese or potatoes and kielbasa, a Polish sausage. They also celebrate swenconka, or a blessing of Easter food the day before Easter.

So, naturally when Christina was offered the chance to travel to Poland, she jumped at the opportunity. Last summer Christina went to Poland for a month with the Kosciuszko Foundation. The foundation is an organization which helps children in Poland learn English from American teachers. Even without a teaching degree, Christina was able to spend her time in the city of Przypok, Poland, as a teacher’s assistant, teaching the English language to students ages 9 to 14.

—While I was there, the teacher and I did lessons with the kids until lunchtime. And in the afternoon we played games with them. It was a lot of fun and the children were really nice,— she says.

“Believe it or not, the U. S. and Poland are a lot more alike than most people think,— says Christina. —They have shopping malls like we have here —“ and they even have a lot of American based foods. [But] I realized how lucky we are to have so many things in the U. S.— Christina says: —Every day we take for granted the little things, like clean tap water and free public restrooms. In Poland you have to pay two dollars for a small bottle of water and 50 cents every time you needed to use the bathroom—

Christina is currently a member of Western New York’s largest Polish-American cultural and dance group, Harmony Polish Folk Ensemble. Harmony was founded by several families with Polish ties. They have upwards of 50 members, who range in age from four to 75.

Manya Pawlak-Metzler, president of Harmony, says she is always very impressed with Christina’s —ready-to-go— attitude. —Christina is reliable, dedicated, and eternally upbeat. Her ability to adapt to frequent change is unparalleled, and her skill in level of dance has recently resulted in her placement as a junior instructor for our organization,— said Pawlak-Metzler.

Harmony’s mission is to expose Western New York to Polish culture through traditional song, dance, and simple language lessons. But on a less dramatic scale, the group is also out to prove those who believe Polish dancing is all polka, very, very wrong.

—I think that the people who usually associate [our] dancing with polka all the time are surprised. They get to see the more traditional side of Polish dancing.— Christina said.

—I’m proud to show where my family came from every time I dance with Harmony. Just within the hour show we put on for people, they get to live as if they were one of those Polish villagers, and they take home with them a story which they can tell their families for generations to come.—

The article points to experiences much like my own (although, I was never a dancer…). Knowledge of ones roots, cultural connections, being in the family, and most especially the extended family. Those are the experiences that give us a core sense of warmth, connection, and of being grounded. As we mature those experiences blossom into a deeper knowledge, studied history, and all its intricacies. That knowledge doesn’t destroy our our starting point, it only deepens our understanding of it.

Beyond the family, the article points to the support of church and community, both of which are essential in establishing a sense of self.

Perspective, Poetry, Poland - Polish - Polonia, , ,

The great poets?

A great post from John Guzlowski at Everything’s Jake: Can American Poetry Be Great Again?

My friend Elizabeth Oakes, author of The Farmgirl Poems, sent me a New York Times article that she saw posted on the Women’s Poetry List about whether or not American poetry will ever be great again. It’s a good article that raises a number of important questions about poetry and reading and the audience for the written word.

He then points to the NY Times article from its On Poetry column: The Great(ness) Game

The problem is that over the course of the 20th century, greatness has turned out to be an increasingly blurry business. In part, that’s a reflection of the standard narrative of postmodernism, according to which all uppercase ideals —” Truth, Beauty, Justice —” must come in for questioning. But the difficulty with poetic greatness has to do with more than the talking points of the contemporary culture wars. Greatness is —” and indeed, has always been —” a tangle of occasionally incompatible concepts, most of which depend upon placing the burden of —greatness— on different parts of the artistic process…

What does greatness mean? What should it mean? How has poetry evolved within American culture? The article is an interesting exploration of those topics.

The author also takes a shot at the intrigue and exoticism of foreign poets living in the United States, particularly Czesław Miłosz. For all of their “greatness” a lot of their “not-so-great” gets glossed over. Using Miłosz as an example is particularly funny because Miłosz’ “greatness” occasionally exhibited itself in pseudo-class warfare, pitting him, and his ring of Polish intellectuals, against his base of support, the people who were forced to call him great, because he was one of us. For an investigation into that issue read Stanislaus A. Blejwas’ letter: Polish studies in America from the January 1995 issue of The Sarmatian Review.

Perspective, Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political, ,

Human lives, rebuilding cities, making neighborhoods

From Model D Media: Immigrants in the 313: ‘This is Where the Future Begins’

You know it when you see it — or better yet — immerse yourself in it.

It can be charted, measured and put under statistical scrutiny, but a neighborhood that benefits from the presence of immigrants is best appreciated in real time, on its own terms, in dramatic living color.

The early voice of Detroit was French, Irish, German, Italian, Polish, Ukrainian, Spanish and Yiddish. Many of those voices have disappeared into the greater American tapestry, but others came to replace them: Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Albanian, Arabic, Urdu, Bengali and others. And to ensure urban vitality in the region, history suggests there need be a lot more to come in the future.

…

Fast forward into the 21st century and Hamtramck still relies on property and income tax revenues from the distressed automakers and their suppliers, but it is also developing an identity quite separate from its industrial and Euro-ethnic cultural past.

A place that was about 90 percent Polish-speaking in the 1940s still retains that ethnic flavor via its three Roman Catholic churches, a Polish National Catholic parish and a Ukrainian Catholic church based on principles of the Eastern Byzintine Rite, as well as assorted restaurants, meat markets, credit unions and retailers. Hamtramck now, however, shares its dense 2 square miles with newer immigrant communities originating in the Balkans, the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. A long decaying commercial strip on secondary main street Conant was recently designated “Bangladesh Avenue,” to signify a decade-long turnaround helped by dozens of businesses opened by Bengali-speaking newcomers. An excellent account of this development appeared in Model D in October.

Economic Development Director Jason Friedmann says the transformation of Conant is only the beginning of what he sees as more investment by immigrant entrepreneurs in the near future.

“We are getting more interest in the south end of Jos. Campau (Hamtramck's well known main drag), where there is a larger Arab community (from Yemen),” Friedmann says. “There is a bakery in the works and other businesses (quite separate) from what's going on the Bangladeshi community.”

To add more multicultural flavor to this urban stew, there is a Bosnian American Cultural Center and mosque in the city, which serves a Muslim population that fled its war-torn country in the late 1990s, a Zen Buddhist center, in a former Polish social hall tucked away in a northend residential neighborhood, and a newly-relocated Hindu temple on Conant.

Debashish Das, who runs a business on Conant and is a member of comparatively small Bangladeshi Hindu community, lives within walking distance of his work and the temple.

“Some of my customers who moved to the suburbs say I should move there, too,” Das says. “But I disagree. I have everything I need right here: business, community, religion. I tell them, 'You should join me, my life is a full as life can be in this neighborhood.' ”

Models for the D

What Southwest Detroit and Hamtramck have to teach us is that by concentrating our most valuable resource —“ people, people, people —“ into densely populated neighborhoods, real social building results. Then even more people are attracted to this growing human core of energy, creating exciting cultural hybrids.

It's no surprise then that these two districts within the 313 are also attractive to young adult artists and professionals who favor the snap, crackle and pop of city life over the generally dull and unremarkable suburban experience favored by their parents. Imagine Corktown, Midtown and Woodbridge infused with a recombined immigrant business and neighborhood buzz (let's use Brooklyn's North Williamsburg and Greenpoint as prime examples), and the mind boggles.

The article’s author, Walter Wasacz, describes himself as “a pierogi-eating, techno/punk-rockin’ Hamtramck native son and resident.”

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, these efforts at rebuilding cities and neighborhoods through adaptive reuse, re-invigoration, and re-investment are not doomed to failure. I applaud the idea people and the workers who see value in human lives, their ability to transform lives by working with life. Another important point, churches and religious centers are of necessity, the heart of the community. Fancy that…

Poland - Polish - Polonia,

Polish town, city, and village names (outside Poland)

From the Polandian blog: Warsaw, Indiana and other non-Polish oddities

Polish place names crop up all over North America and other parts of the globe settled by Poles. Nothing particularly amazing about that, but when you’re lying in bed with the dreaded January virus it’s possible to become a little obsessed with looking them all up. From there it’s a small step to collecting photos of all these geographical orphans, and from there it’s more or less inevitable that one will move on to putting together a blog post about it. It’s a cycle with all the hideous inevitability of the slippery slope from sniffing magic markers to crack cocaine…

Several years ago I had a similar idea. I wanted to create a database of Polish place names in the United States. About 1/2 hour into the project I gave up. I like this blogger’s approach to doing this, with pictures and all. Well done and interesting.

Christian Witness, PNCC, Political,

Your prayers and support needed in the case of Andrzej Nowakowski

Your prayers are requested for Vivian and Andrzej Nowakowski and their family. Also of your charity, please drop a note to Senators Christopher Dodd and Joseph Lieberman requesting their intervention in the case.

From the New Britain Herald: Andrzej’s case up for review

The case of a city man imprisoned for listing prior convictions on a green card renewal application is being reviewed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

He could be freed. The review is a victory for his family, including a wife who has spent thousands of dollars and much of her time in court, writing letters, seeking help from officials and otherwise worrying since his April 23 arrest by immigration officials.

Andrzej Nowakowski, 43, of New Britain, who came to America from Poland when he was 9 years old, has a criminal history for drug convictions. As a chronic pain patient, he became addicted to oxycodone.

There was never talk of deportation when he pleaded guilty, served his time, kicked his addiction and was working and taking care of his ailing father-in-law and wife, Vivian, who needs a kidney transplant.

Health officials listed Andrzej as her caregiver on the kidney transplant list. She will lose her place on the list without a caregiver at home, which could kill her, and no one else would be as well suited to the job. Health professionals familiar with the case cite Andrzej’s experience and the couple’s shared immunity to germs.

—My whole family needs me,— Andrzej said during a phone interview Friday from the Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls, R.I., where he is being held. —I need to be out there for the sake of my wife. She needs me out there. I am really concerned about her health and the health of my in-laws. I will do anything to get her healthy. But they want to deport me.—

Andrzej said he still has chronic pain in his back, but he has learned to live with it.

—I don’t want to do any drugs,— he said. —My wife’s life is on the line.—

Nowakowski’s son, David Lombardo —” Andrzej raised him as his own after Vivian’s prior marriage —” is a corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps in California, awaiting an April deployment to Iraq after training other marines how to fight and survive in the field.

Although Andrzej respects the fact that —my son is a patriot,— he said what the country is doing to him and his wife is wrong.

The review could be a correction to that, and could take place at any time.

But immigration officials won’t let Andrzej out if they see him as a danger to the community —” he has no record of violence —” or as a flight risk.

Letting her husband out to care for her is a safe bet, Vivian said, because —if he does anything to screw it up, I will deport him myself.—

Jokes aside, Vivian said, —He would never skip. Where would he skip?—

Lombardo, who was home for a Thanksgiving visit to his parents’ High Street home with his fiancee, Jennifer Ramirez, noted that Andrzej was co-owner of an area family business and always paid off his car payments and taxes. —It is not like he is some drug addict with no money. He has paid his taxes, supported his family and supported his community,— Lombardo said.

Immigration officials also take into consideration such things as —disciplinary problems while incarcerated,— which does not apply to his father.

—While incarcerated he has never caused any problems,— Lombardo said. —He has been in this country for 35 years. He has done his time [for the past crimes]. None of this applies.—

Ramirez choked back tears as she explained the situation and vouched for the integrity of her soon-to-be father-in-law.

—Everyone is guilty of temptation,— she said. —This is a man who married a woman, regardless of her sickness, knowing that they couldn’t have kids, and raised David as his own. He is a good-hearted man.—

Vivian walked across the carpeted living room and hugged Jennifer.

—I want the whole family together for Christmas,— Vivian said.

She has been depressed during the fight for her husband’s freedom, especially since learning Aug. 29 she’d lost an appeal on his behalf. In addition to missing her husband and being faced with her own death, she has had to deal with the deteriorating health of her father, who was recently hospitalized for his severe heart and kidney problems.

Seeing her son and Ramirez on Thanksgiving cheered her up.

While Vivian is resigned that her fate and that of her husband —is in God’s hands,— her son hopes the officials reviewing his father’s case are able to see it for what it is.

—I am looking at this optimistically,— said Lombardo, adding that he could not believe his father had been arrested in the first place.

—He is her life partner,— he said, and will be caring for his mother and for her father at home.

A Homeland Security source in Washington, D.C., who spoke anonymously because he wasn’t authorized to comment on the case, suggested earlier this month that Vivian needs somebody to —carry the spear for her,— even after letters of support were sent from New Britain’s Common Council, the city’s legislative delegation and U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy, D-5th District.

Sources said Donald Kent, then assistant secretary of the office of legal affairs for the department, never got the materials and wasn’t the right person to receive them. Officials at the congressman’s office, however, believed his letter had merely failed to change the status of Andrzej’s deportation order.

Kent has since resigned and been replaced.

Vivian needs someone such as U.S. Sens. Chris Dodd or Joseph Lieberman, both Connecticut Democrats, Murphy or someone at the federal level to fight for her behind the scenes, the Homeland Security source said.

Immigration officials are human beings too, and can have compassion, the source said.

…

Now that her son is by her side, she has drawn renewed strength and faith in God, she said.

The family attends the Polish National Catholic Church of the Transfiguration and Our Savior.

—People with no compassion haven’t lived a hard-enough life,— Lombardo said.

Lombardo is leaving today, but plans to return at Christmas.

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