Well, the illustrious Father Orsini responded to my response regarding his letter to the editor. He wrote:

"As regards to [Maria Diarrhea's] objection to my letter, obviously she does not understand the nuances of the English language. My salient point was that pedestrian and vehicle violations of the law are not understood by any ethnic group who do not [sic] understand English.

"If any ethnic group wants to climb the ladder of success, learning and understanding English is absolutely necessary. Far from being prejudicial, I know as a first generation Italian-American that my immigrant parents learned to read and understand English. Our native language was used only at home because it helped us to preserve our history and culture.

"I fight bias wherever it is found. I have an excellent rapport with the Hispanic community at Our Lady of Assumption Church. [Maria Diarrhea] should be asking why the rest of the parishes in Bayonne do not accommodate the beautiful Hispanic community.

"[Maria Diarrhea's] letter was extremely prejudicial and does not speak for the Hispanic community in Bayonne. She dared to judge me and my intentions. [Maria Diarrhea] should be ashamed of her obvious prejudices."

Folks, I couldn't make this stuff up.

I am so livid! I was going to be the bigger person and not respond, but I can't just sit back. Can't and won't. So I'm shooting back another letter -- my last one, regardless of whether or not he writes another letter and what it says about me then. I think this says everything I want to say:

"One final response to Father Orsini's letter ["Refutes Accusation of Anti-Hispanic Bias," April 15], to correct some inaccuracies in his statements:

"I never said Father Orsini had an anti-Hispanic bias. I never even mentioned Hispanics in my letter. I merely stated that it was prejudicial to make a connection between the language one speaks and how observant he/she is of traffic rules. There are many people in this community who do not speak English, and they come from different nations, backgrounds and cultures. To single out the Hispanic community speaks volumes about Father Orsini's true beliefs.

"As does his comment that I do not understand the nuances of the English language. Why, because of my surname? I graduated with a degree in English and communications, and am a news director for an international news organization. The English language is my trade. The "nuances" in his letter did not escape me because they did not exist. There was nothing nuanced about his comments -- his prejudice was clear as day.

"Father Orsini and I do agree on one point, however -- that those who live in this country do themselves a disservice by not learning English. Perhaps a good starting point would be to do away with foreign-language masses, like the one Father Orsini gave in Italian this past Sunday. After all wouldn't speaking Italian only at home help his parishioners to "preserve [their] history and culture"?

"It is obvious that Father Orsini and I are not in agreement on this issue, and perhaps we never will be. My hope is that he, and others like him, will at least try to look past a person's origin, culture, and language and see the value and contribution each person brings to this community."