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RESPONSE TO NEW YORK CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION BY
WESTCHESTER COUNTY EXECUTIVE ROB ASTORINO

December 28, 2015

The following statement by Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino is in response to an attack made on him by the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU). Its remarks are included in this story which appears in today's Journal News (Gannett).  The story is also pasted below.

" The New York Civil Liberties Union is totally off the mark in its attack on me for bringing a pre-Christmas Mass into the Westchester County jail and for citing scripture at the service. America's founders weren't protecting government institutions from religion, they were protecting religions from government interference.

"I could not have been more pleased to bring my friend Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Rabbi Abraham Horowitz, and Imam John Nashid, among other members of the clergy, into the Valhalla facility. The Cardinal's Mass, which was only attended by inmates who requested to be there, was among the most moving I have ever experienced. Based on conversations I shared with prisoners afterward, I am not alone in that assessment.

"The remarks I made were entirely appropriate for their setting. They weren't made at a town hall meeting; they were made at a voluntarily attended Catholic Mass.  

"American prisons are fuller today than at virtually any time in our history. Perhaps what we need more of in this country is the type of compassion, hope, and redemption about which the Cardinal and I spoke. Today's extreme political correctness is not only turning us against one another, it's destroying the foundations of our country."     

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The New York Civil Liberties Union said Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino went too far when he told prisoners at the Westchester county jail to seek redemption through Jesus Christ

By David McKay Wilson
An imam, a rabbi, a priest and a county executive walk into a jail.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan is there too, to celebrate an Advent Mass at Westchester's Valhalla facility before the media for inmates and a phalanx of high-ranking county officials.
One of them takes the microphone to address the prisoners, a subset of the 1,066 men incarcerated that day, who volunteered to join in the Yuletide service at the county lock-up.
Can you guess who said the following?
"We are here to celebrate the good news, that there is a beacon of hope, that there is a path to redemption, we find both in our acceptance of and our belief in Jesus Christ, who died for all of us, who died for all of our sins," the inmates are told.
"And Jesus is proof that God does love us, and it's up to us what we do next. And Jesus would approve of our discontent, he really would. No one is beyond God's love and his power to redeem.
"God is ready to give mercy if you repent and cry out for it .... Jesus said to Mark in 2:17, 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.' It's up to each one of you, it's up to each one of us, to answer his call. But know that there is hope and there is redemption. It starts with you. It starts with me. It starts with us. It starts with our relationship with Jesus.
"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind, but now, I see. Let this Christmas season be a rebirth in each one of you. Have hope. God bless you all and have a merry Christmas."
If you guessed Cardinal Dolan delivered the jailhouse homily, you guessed wrong. In fact, Dolan, who served as president of the U.S. Conference of Bishops from 2010 to 13, later told my colleague Adrienne Sanders that he was "out-preached" before the inmates.
"We have Billy Graham here," Dolan said.
Dolan's evangelist-for-a-day was none other than Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, the Mount Pleasant Republican and 2013 candidate for governor, who is in the mix for a second run in 2017. Astorino, a stalwart of New York's religious right, often touts his administration's faith-based Community Partnership, which aims to strengthen bonds between the county government and Westchester's religious community.
The Astorino administration has invested in Christmas. The county's Winter Wonderland attraction at Kensico Dam features rides for kids, roving bands of carolers, visits with Santa, Scotch tastings, and Astorino's appearance in late November to light the sparkling Christmas tree. Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, as the Winter Buy Photo
Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, as the Winter Wonderland tree lighting at Kensico Dam. (Photo: David McKay Wilson/The Journal News)
The friendship between Dolan and Astorino dates back to the 2000s , when Astorino served as program director of the Catholic Channel on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. A few years before Dolan's 2009 appointment as archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York, Astorino traveled to Milwaukee to interview Dolan, then serving as a bishop in Wisconsin.
After Dolan was tapped to serve as archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York in early 2009, Astorino hosted Dolan on his weekly show, "Conversation with the Archbishop," during Astorino's successful run for county executive that year.
But did the elected county executive go overboard in his homily? When does the state cross the line into the church? And how much mixing of the two is appropriate?
Shannon Wong, director of the New York Civil Liberties Union's Lower Hudson Valley chapter, said that Astorino's preaching in Valhalla as county executive about the redemptive power of Jesus, wasn't what the framers of the U.S. Constitution had in mind. In a nation with a separation of church and state, Astorino's speech was all church, no state.
"The framers understood the importance of the separation of church and state," said Wong. "Unfortunately, the remarks by the Westchester county executive were insensitive to that principal and failed to appreciate that this is a country with diverse religious views and beliefs. The county executive participating in a Mass in his official capacity was inappropriate."
It's not the first time questions have been raised over the desires of public officials to bring their religious views into the public sphere. The December holiday season has seen battles over the use of public property for creches or menorahs, or whether public school holiday shows should include Christmas hymns along with secular holiday ditties.
Astorino communications director Ned McCormack maintained Astorino's remarks were "absolutely appropriate," noting that the prisoners signed up for the Mass, which was also attended by a rabbi, an imam, Protestant ministers, and Greek Orthodox priests.
"There is nothing inappropriate about an elected official having faith in God," wrote McCormack in an email message.
He noted that the Democrats do it too.
McCormack pointed out that President Barack Obama referred to his faith on April 7 at the annual White House Easter prayer breakfast . It was a talk in which Obama mentioned how Jesus served the marginalized and embraced those who were different; about how we were called to love him and to love all of our neighbors.
"Today, we celebrate the magnificent glory of our risen Savior," Obama said in a quote provided by McCormack. "I pray that we will live up to His example. I pray that I will live up to His example. I fall short so often. Every day I try to do better. I pray that we will be strengthened by His eternal love. I pray that we will be worthy of His many blessings."
There seemed a difference. Obama was in the White House, speaking to an audience that was not under his lock and key. He professed what his faith taught him at Eastertide.
Astorino had 82 prisoners before him, doing time for their crimes. He preached the Gospel to his captive audience, urging the sinners before him to follow his road to redemption.
Several top Westchester administration members attended Buy Photo
Several top Westchester administration members attended the Advent mass at the county jail. In front row, from left, Communications Director Ned McCormack, Chief of Staff George Oros, Deputy County Executive Kevin Plunkett, and County Executive Rob Astorino. (Photo: David McKay Wilson/The Journal News)
"We support separation of church and state and believe we are a nation of many faiths," said Wong. "We don't object to political leaders having their own faith, but a political leader cannot lead people down one particular faith's path."
The discussion over where to draw the line between church and state will remain alive in 2016. The presidential caucuses and primaries loom this winter. To some voters, where you stand on God matters.