the rix mix

Today there was a stack of slick full color postcards by front door promoting the weekly gatherings of a Christian evangelical group, The Bridge Youth Ministries, at Hamilton Middle School down the street. This ministry is running evening programs in four or five other city schools, & pushes chastity-only sex education. The contact for the religious group is someone named Pastor Carlos Cedeno, which also happens to be the name of a Board of Ed member currently running for City Council. Applications for this program may be picked up from the school's main office & must be handed in there by November 1. Coincidentally, the other day I read that a brand new K-8 school in Elizabeth has been named the Monsignor Joao S. Antao School #31. I suppose the Portuguese Catholics are happy. The Irish & Italian Catholic & the Jewish communities here had to build their own schools if they wanted to name them after clergy & saints. But now a lot of public school kids in this city will be wearing basketball jerseys that look like they're attending a parochial school, & receiving diplomas that give the same impression. They're really pushing church/state separation to the edge in Elizabeth NJ. Should we ask the ACLU now or later?