A sad, necessary and urgent new Security Wish List From Bishop Maginn High School, It disheartening to have to do it, but it could be the most important Wish List of all.

The school needs first aid kits, clipboards, Mylar heat blankets, children’s fire escape ladders, walkie-talkies and bright red backpacks for snacks, records, class lists, phone, and emergency numbers.

None of these items are expensive, they range in price from $10.95 to $35.99.

We hope to fill this list before school starts in two or three weeks.

Obviously, I can’t discuss all of the security details and arrangements, the items on the list are the bare bone things Bishop Maginn – an urban school in a heavily populated area – needs in America in 2019.

The school has a vibrant and vital refugee population and has opened itself up to the needy and vulnerable.

The good news is that this Security Wish List is very do-able. The bad news is that it is necessary. I think it needs to be done quickly.

Our political leaders have made every refugee and immigrant in the country into a target for political purposes. They need to be protected, in so far as it is possible.

The police came to Bishop Maginn recently to do a security assessment – schools all over the country are now targets, and hate crimes and assaults against refugee children are rising rapidly. We have all seen the news.

Even in Albany, every refugee child has an awful story to tell about hate insults threats, bullying or physical assaults. People are watching the Bishop Maginn experiment all over the country. This is a statement to the world.

The police made a number of sensible recommendations so the school can be more secure. Bishop Maginn has no budget for these improvements, relatively minor though they are – the Catholic Church is under great pressure on many fronts –  so I offered our help. This is the right mission for us.

Mike Tolan, a good person who cares about his students,  wants to take every precaution to keep the teachers and students safe in a country full of bigots and machine guns.

You all watch the news, you know this is not simple paranoia, it is the heartbreaking reality of our times.

So I believe we need to keep these children safe, for their own sakes and for the sake of all the work we are doing and wish to do.  I bought some clipboards, walkie-talkies and nine ladders to get the ball rolling.

They need to know we care about them.

This experiment in love and compassion – the resurrection of Bishop Maginn –  needs to work. It is not just about us, it’s a statement to the country and the world about the true heart and soul of America. I see it as a patriotic duty, I like Emma Lazurus’s Statue of Liberty poem just the way it is.

A good deed doesn’t just evaporate, says Bishop Desmond Tutu, it saturates the universe. Please support the new Bishop Maginn High School Security Wish List if you can.