Dear Ian

Congratulations! May all good things come to you. I was so happy to run into you last night on the sidewalk. You were so happy.

The new movie “The Witness” will come out on May 26th for a prescreening and then it will be out as a regular movie. It’s the story of Kitty Genovese who was murdered in Queens in the ’60s. Many neighbors did nothing and some did do things to try to help. It’s used as a classic case in Criminal Justice all around the world. In New York, we’ve been going back to not helping others when crimes are in progress and protecting our own life for a few decades now.

I thought I’d mention this special film because about 2 years ago the long serving Psychology Professor at Fordham (Toukesian?) put on a conference about Kitty Genovese and the crime. It was wonderful. Her 2 brothers attended and many authors of books about her attended. The killer is alive. He’s in jail. He always asks to be paroled. If possible, it’s important to write to say that you don’t want him to ever be paroled. He’s so violent. When they asked him how he thought he could get away with this murder he said he knew the neighbor would never say anything.

So I saw Fr. Shea in the hall yesterday and he was very nervous about all the extra things he had to do at the end of the year… the Baccalaureate Mass, the Graduation at Rose Hill, etc. I hope that someday a wonderful priest will serve again at Lincoln Center who is relaxed and beloved by the students. It’s very hard not to have a smooth running spiritual life there. It has some components to it but many times I feel that it’s very fragile and could close one day. I hope that that doesn’t happen because for some of the students, it’s the heart and soul of their life during college. I know that I was immensely helped by my Nazareth College experience because I went to the Mass every day and many times with the nun who was the President of the College. She loved me so much and the Chaplain loved me too. The Mass was beautiful. But I must say that you have to do the work of going and committing to it. If you don’t invest, you lose out.
So I’ll stop there for now and send my love and friendship.
With All the Peace in the World

From,
Patricia