Monument Promoting God’s Commandments
To Be Dedicated June 11
 

A monument bearing God’s Ten Commandments has been installed on the grounds of Holy Cross High School (Dunmore Campus).

An official dedication of the monument will be held on Wednesday, June 11, at 10 a.m. Officials from the Diocese of Scranton and the area Jewish community will participate. The public is invited to attend. Following the dedication ceremony, a light reception will be held in the school auditorium.

The monument was acquired through the generosity of Alan Goldstein, a Clarks Summit resident and member of Temple Israel in Scranton, and in cooperation with the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania and the Diocese of Scranton.

“We are most grateful to Mr. Goldstein for this unique donation, encouraging all people to lives of charity, peace and justice, the fruits of faithfulness to God’s laws,” said Father Philip Altavilla, V.E., Diocesan director of ecumenism and interfaith affairs.

“This is a wonderful gesture that illustrates that all of our interfaith relationships are rooted in God’s commandments.”

Mr. Goldstein traces his interest in the project to Kim Rapp, a member of St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Dunmore whom he describes as “a dear friend who inspired me to learn and understand more about the Catholic religion. She is Catholic and has withstood great hardships in her life, but continues to be positive and one of the best, kindest and most generous human beings I have ever known. She has taken me to Masses and explained many things about the Catholic religion and has made a better and more rounded person of me.”

As he learned more about Catholicism, he became interested in supporting the monument project as a way to foster inter-religious understanding.

“I think it is important that we all understand that whether we are Jewish, Catholic, Muslim or whatever, we all live together and must respect each other and work together to make this a better world,” Mr. Goldstein said. “I am honored to have had the opportunity to be a part of this wonderful monument dedication. I hope that it will inspire more harmony and understanding between people of different religions.”

The monument was procured through Project Moses, a national non-profit organization committed to re-establishing respect and appreciation for the Ten Commandments.

Project Moses was begun in the summer of 2000 by John Menghini, a member of Ascension Parish in Overland Park, Kansas, when a Ten Commandments monument was removed from the Wyandotte County Courthouse lawn in Kansas City after the American Civil Liberties Union threatened to sue over what it claimed was a violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution.

Project Moses seeks to make God’s Ten Commandments more widely known, more deeply understood, more ardently revered and more faithfully followed.

According to Joe Worthing, the organization’s executive director, the endeavor involves not only Catholics but Protestants and Jews as well.

“This was an important decision in the infancy of the organization because it shows the true ecumenical nature of the Ten Commandments. They are for everyone at all times and written on everyone’s hearts,” he said.

Project Moses has shipped and taken orders from more than 350 groups. Most of the monuments are being placed in front of Catholic churches and private religious schools that are visible to all passers by.

Mr. Worthing added, “Although we support the displaying of God’s laws on public property, we believe that if the county courthouse is the first place someone sees the Ten Commandments, that’s probably why he is there! The placement of our monuments makes them more visible to the whole community and to children who hopefully will learn and then live these tenants of our faith and good citizenship.”

More information about Project Moses is available at www.projectmoses.com  or by calling 1-888-667-3710.