If you’re a student of recent Schenectady history, maybe you remember the decline and fall of Art Hudak, minister of the Woodlawn Reformed Chuch until he got arrested for burglary about a year and a half ago.

The home he burglarized was that of his girlfriend – he was a married man – and alcoholism played a part in his misadventure.

He pleaded guilty to a reduced charged and was sentenced to three years of probation. His church suspended him, his wife kicked him out, and his fall seemed complete.

Now he is getting a second chance, thanks to a sister church, the First Reformed Church located in the Stockade neighborhood, and to the City Mission, which has been mounting an effort it calls the Third Way to bring downtown businesses and downtrodden citizens together.

The church and the Mission have jointly hired Hudak to run the program, and you can read the details in my column in the Sunday Gazette.