COURIER-JOURNAL Wednesday, June 13,1984 13

^*^^^^p~m*~^K*nm Mercy Graduation

third cmtficfitve &ip and ter of the late Frank and ready fe*4Mtirfban«hi|R. Vi Cuddy Both are Scheduled June 20 AmancanaiidlrWi Aobarnians Our Lady of Mercy High study liberal arts at the Uni­ School's 53rd annual gradua­ versity of Notre Dame. She tatty CavfiV-of St Of Bcnadetfe Fisher tion exercises will take place has been an editor of Ambrose,* whose father Holy Ghost Rochester, I at 8 p.m., Wednesday, June Mercedes, the school's liter­ was the Jate fir Clanmse have no line excepting that 20, at the Eastman Theatre ary magazine, and a reporter the aura knows how to with Bishop Matthew H. for the school newspaper, ajsjoy HmVBl That local Clark delivering the com­ Quill. She also is a member {hpaMKtftt ASM! dniin mencement address. of the National Honor Soci­ jnrgg^g ttfihod bgrrutcx of The bishop also will cele­ ety and co-captain of the BttemHc, INBM Pratt brate the graduates' Rose varsity track and field team. was an her ihirtf *np with Mass Wednesday, June 19, in Paradies of Pittsford plans the Mercy Motherhouse, to major in English and of St ioaeph't, Rush just according to Sister Judith communications at LeMoyne Tiros* SL John Heberle, principal. College. She also is on the as, la a "Let's Seniors Maria Gerace and Mercedes staff amd was news evarymjag'' person Karen Paradies are editor of Quill. She was a S took enough girls' valedictorian and member of this year's •;.: - and Representing " "Ddwf via*?" wakj the genesis of 13 years fractured a hfp A bumpy ecumenism was Dorthv He wasn r tare bat tf •f conducting groups to ambulance from Utile who is a deacon or turned out to be escorting many countnej. One of Ballyshannon included the Batavu Presbyterian the group by plane from rhe faest SsVUres has her sister and me to the Church and a past matron To^jfrZl Rochester to Kennedy been flie marry ftsnd&hips 500-bed General Hospital of Eastern Stdi who at Airport, getting haajagr winch have been farmed in Sligo Mrs Denton tended Mass each das loaded and; (be^, group The May 19 June 2 tour stayed on in Sugo with with devotion And final HOME through passport con­ this, year was my 14th to her The husband has 1} Mary Honck or Hone trols, getting the boarding Ireland We were 16 - flown to Ireland and at oye who introduced the tickets meetmr the tour MafyLaate Garvin of 5t this reading our Horneil Honeoye Tango at an SPIRIT guide with coach at Israel John s Greece, hv "most Mrs Denton has joined a evening ot entertainment Airport The guide took knowkidgeable and gets similar tour to complete at Kseler Castle once the over Tor the program toe ptije. It was her 17th the trip Fortunately both duelling plate o\ a Jean Herrera Robert Mabne hotels, meafc, Mass ar trip to Ireland, Bill Mrs CarhA and Mrs tamour witch Iht M C rangements at shrines I McPaildeB of Corpus Miller had taken out ac was a km J of stud was to be available for Christi Rochester and cident insurance Iavtrence %clk Ht in predictable* and un ha sut T Beth Kilkenny of MatjorieltlnseltaofSt vited anvont to dani.e WANTED prcdicatables St Birbara s, Bronx Boniface beamed all Marv took the invitation New kitanrtewing For Career Salespersons. Experience The tour went well W c cousin* of tht late Msgrs through the trip until the and twisted ind tangoed Not Nscessary. CaN U» tor An Interview. were 47 pilgnms Fathers Ste-se and William end when she got a mean the M C TO thai I am sure Licensed Agents, Ask About!Our Exciting Bonu* Pro­ Lane and bturmer and McPadden of Geneva cold Bill and Lfleen he went horn* to his wilt gram Beginning Immediately. Brother Sebastian of Mt with fum roots in Toulant if 1 ourde a>int, Those A Tn.ni. WE'RE INTERESTED IN YOUR SUCCESS! Saviour Flmira were Cananclaigua where Beth Louisville absorbed women hue enouph CALL BOB OR JEAN among them Tne group taught in it Marv s about evervtbiflg Bill is a energy 10 clrxlnfv lip SUiooi hmmcM Ilcnacasy graduate of Annapolis, piTdi), Cork and 247-7700 was edifying as ws, viuted of Mot ler of Sorrows his biblical spots in Eileen is mt nie^c daugh Denial >N

Father Bruce Ritter CORRUPTED YOUTH

In the jargon of the street castoffs and nomads and derelicts mingle with the crowds And so I try to love the kid across my desk in a way he he's known as rough trade of affluent theater-goers from the high rent districts and really cant understand. But grace does, and God working and he plies his wares, suburbs. A lot of kids go there to make their living. Like the in a depraved and empty and terrified heart does and himself, up and down the boy across my aesk. maybe, just maybe, the innocence will return to that face Minnesota Strip. He is fit- and he will take his eyes off my jugular and stop pushing teen and looks eighteen and his toe into my foot under the desk. Maybe that child, who he's seen the elephant, he's "He plies his wares, himself, up and down the was never a child, will become a child. Maybe. seen it all. Minnesota Strip." He is yours and mine. Like it or not, he is part of us. We faced each other across my desk casually, relaxedly Thanks for your own "no strings" love—your help. while I carefully arranged my face and my eyes and my You. don't say very much to kids like that. It's always mind, so that nothing I said or did or thought or felt for the much more a thing of vibes and perceptions and boun­ daries. The trick is. to offer what he needs at that moment next hour was spontaneous or unconsidered. He I believe that every child deserves the chance to be a offhandedly, with the practical skill that needed no ex­ and that's rarely a lot of God talk. It's enough if he knows planation, probed for my weaknesses, inspecting my why you do it. This kid's needs were simple enough: a child. I'm helping with a gift of: $ jugular with the guileless eye of the corrupted young. Slow place to live, some safety, some food. What complicated please print: waves of depravity and innocence washed in shadows of the essentially simple immediacy of it all was our "no darkness and light across his face. strings" love. He wanted to pay for it. That's what he NAME: always had to do. That's how the game is played. He used the shreds of his innocence with a kind of detached hapless malevolence to evoke my sympathies. ADDRESS: By turns he was cynical and calloused, winsome and "Maybe that child, who was never a child, will desperate—and for knowing moments at a time, even become a child. Maybe." CITY: _STATE. vulnerable. He drifted in and out of reach, in and out of touch, constantly probing, watching for the moment of ad­ ZIP: AP(XKI) vantage. We play the same game with God all the time. We don't The Minnesota Strip is the slimy underbelly of Manhat­ like His "no strings" love for us either, particularly if the Please send this coupon with your donation to: tan, a 15-block stretch of Eighth Avenue porno parlors, "us" includes a depraved innocent, a vomit-splattered strip joints, cheap bars, fleabag hotels—home for derelict or a pimp with a stable of children whom he rents COVENANT HOUSE thousands of drifters, hookers, and pimps. It parallels by the hour. We try desperately to climb up out of the "us" Father Bruce Ritter and intersects that block on by being good, by being better, by deserving more. We de­ P 0. Box 2121 where a couple dozen third-rate movie houses crowd mand that God love us because we are good; and we are Times Square Station together in grimy brilliance. At night, the crowds of good to make God love us. We have to pay for it That's the . NY 10108 way we've always played the game. And to know that God loves us not because we are good, but to make us so. is Father Bruce Hitter, OFM Conv.. is the founder and President ot The street is NO PLACE FOR A CHILD Covenant House, which operates crisis centers for homeless andsometime s unbearable. Because as He loves us. so we runaway boys and girls all over the country. have to love "us," all of us.