Lorenzo carcaterra a safe place counseling

     On his deathbed, Mario Carcaterra asked his son, Lorenzo, a simple question: "Do you love me?" Lorenzo's answer was equally simple, although heartbreaking. His answer was "No." 

A Safe Place details a relationship startling for its violence and passion, devastating in its psychological ramifications, yet important and even uplifting for its ability to grab hold of and confront the truth. 

At one time, of course, Lorenzo Carcaterra did love his father.

Yes, the older man was rough, often shockingly violent -- beating Lorenzo's mother and Lorenzo himself -- but such violence was a way of life in Hell's Kitchen, New York, in the fifties and sixties.

Lorenzo carcaterra a safe place counseling

And the violence was often tempered with warmth and affection. Lorenzo and his dad sat side by side at the fights at Madison Square Garden, they savored Italian ices on street corners in the summer, they took the subway to the ballpark to root for their beloved Yankees.

And then, when Lorenzo was fou