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But the mourners have something — or, rather, someone — powerful on their side: Highly respected West New York Police Director Al Bringa will likely set a staging area for the protestors as far from St. Mary’s Church as he can before the 10 a.m. funeral Mass begins on Tuesday.
The Face of HateSt. Mary’s has a school and a large playground, and is smack dab in the middle of a residential neighborhood. What’s more, parking areas must be designated for the Gorra family and other mourners.
That means the protective perimeter around the church can legally be drawn quite wide, possibly leaving members of the Westboro Baptist Church as much as a block away, if Bringa has anything to say about it. He’s also planning on having a small army of his own on hand, all dressed in blue.
Counteracting the agitators’ inhumane display, Gorra’s alma mater, North Bergen High School, will hold a public ceremony beginning at 11:45 a.m., just before the funeral procession passes in front of the school on its way to Fairview Cemetery. See: Service for North Bergen hero
The NBHS marching band will play the National Anthem and “Taps” in the 2006 graduate’s honor as the cortege reaches the Kennedy Boulevard school at 74th Street.
Visiting hours begin tonight from 5 to 9 and again, briefly, tomorrow at 9:30 a.m., before the procession leaves Vainieri Funeral Home, at the corner of 59th Street on Kennedy Boulevard.
Mass is at 10 a.m. at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church: 567 65th Street, West New York, with interment to follow in Fairview Cemetery, 500 Fairview Avenue.
For more information, go to:
info@vainierifuneralhome.com
www.vainierifuneralhome.com
Or call: 201-868-6555
Meanwhile, Gorra’s family waits for answers about the cause of his death, which the Army said it is investigating. To this point, the Department of Defense has said only that he died after a training exercise. See: A North Bergen hero dies young
EDITOR’S NOTE: I will bring my camera tomorrow and I will bear witness should any violation occur; I will then testify, if necessary, on behalf of the West New York Police Department. That said, I believe the best way to deal with these amoral, despicable people is to ignore them. If nothing shaky happens, I would expect the media to not even report that they were anywhere in the vicinity, especially because their numbers are sure to be low. If any media outlet dares to give them a second of face time for no other reason than the fact that they are there, you will hear about it from me personally.
Maybe you’re free at 10 Tuesday morning. Maybe you can take a little time off from work, or school. Maybe we can have so many people packing the streets around the same church where my brother and sister made their first Communions, where we had the funeral service for my mom, that we’ll block Sgt. Gorra’s family’s view of the hate mongerers. They may have the right to make a spectacle over their opposition to “don’t ask, don’t tell,” but nothing requires anyone to pay attention to them, especially in a place where they are certainly not welcome.
They have the signs, but we have the numbers. Come join us in honoring a young man — a boy, really — who was willing to sacrifice his life for ours. And in doing so, let us form a human buffer zone that separates those who would degrade him from those who loved him so very much.
Please feel free to share your own views.
Thank you,
Jerry DeMarco
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