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ACCEPT
One last mic check as Divine Wisdom Catholic Academy records its final “Voices of Divine Wisdom” podcast for the school year.
And these students are ending this season with a bang, bringing on special guest and podcast host himself, Bishop Robert Brennan.
“It was very interesting to talk with the young people and to be interviewed by them. and they had great questions and great interest and a good amount of knowledge,” said Bishop Robert Brennan of the Diocese of Brooklyn.
It’s a collaboration that’s been brewing since the kids started their podcast earlier in the year, during Catholic Schools week.
“For it to come to fruition was so exciting,” said Miriam Bonici, the principal of Divine Wisdom Catholic Academy, “I think that, bishop coming to our school and his message really, just it cements all that we’re doing here, and it just validates all that we’re doing around, you know, keeping Christ at the center.”
Bishop Brennan says this is an example of the quality education that Catholic schools provide.
“The schools are about the education and the formation of the whole person, and to integrate, our beliefs and our, following the gospel, our faith is using this new media is a great opportunity,” said Bishop Brennan.
These 8th graders had the chance to ask the tough questions.
“I asked him about, like, what keeps him grounded in times of turbulence? he answered with, like, I pray to Mother Theresa, I pray to certain saints, and I was like, you know what? that’s something I can do,” said 8th grader, Sofia Starcic.
As they prepare to move on to high school, Bishop Brennan offered some advice.
“I always try to say always stay close to the lord, always stay close to Christ, count on him as a friend” said Bishop Brennan.
Words they will remember even after the mics turn off.
“I liked how much Bishop Brennan knew and how he knew that God was always going to be there for us, even when we’re in times of despair,” said 8th grader, Nick Roder.
The podcast has been so popular, there is a waiting list of students that want to take part. The principal hopes to explore more topics and include additional guest speakers for next school year.
At St. Michael’s Catholic Academy in Queens, a Mandarin-English program helped one student from China go from knowing no English to becoming nearly fluent in just one year.
The Mary Louis Academy in Queens will be opening its doors to younger students this fall, thanks to a brand-new middle school on campus.
Pupils at Divine Wisdom Catholic Academy are stepping up to the mic with a podcast. The Queens students are sharing their thoughts, classroom stories, and creativity while building communication skills.
Cristo Rey Brooklyn High School brings joy with a friendly “Dancing With the Teachers” competition.
These days, Michael Shoule doesn’t read to his teenage children, Nate and Emma, as much — but that’s how his career as an author started.
When Nate was born, Shoule would read to him at night, but found a lot of the books became stale.
“There I am, holding a six month old in my arms and thinking, this baby’s not listening to me,” said Shoule.
While attending a Boston College reunion in 2007, inspiration struck.
“I’ll get a book about Boston college. I’ll read that to this kid every night and it’ll be fantastic. It’ll be something that daddy wants to read to my son and I went to the bookstore and there was nothing there,” said Shoule.
So he decided to write his own, and penned “My Daddy loves Boston College Football.”
“I thought there was a market for a book about things that me as a dad wanted to do with my kids,” said Shoule.
Shoule didn’t stop there. He now has seven books, six of which celebrate a different college football team and one story about the Bronx Zoo.
“I included my kids in the book then to try to kind of keep them a part of the story and a part of the whole endeavor,” said Shoule.
Despite the different settings, one theme remained the same.
“I really wanted to write things that dads wanted to read to their kids,” said Shoule.
His two kids now say the books hold fond memories, both on and off the page.
“I appreciate going to the football games. It was fun for me. and it was a good time to spend with my dad,” said Nate.
“I remember that my dad would read it to us with me and my brother and my mom, and he showed us that we were all a character in the book so it helped me relate more because I can’t really relate to football,” said Emma.
He strives to give dads everywhere that chance to create a special bond.
“I was just hoping that this would be a little bit extra incentive for the reading part of it, and for the dad to get involved in that aspect of their child’s upbringing.”
In the future, the American Martyrs parishioner hopes to write more children’s books as well as stories about faith.
The kitchen has always been a sanctuary for Deacon Robert Ruggiero, a passion that grew from those he loved.
“Early on, I was kind of surrounded by people who loved cooking,” said Deacon Robert Ruggiero who will be ordained in the Diocese of Brooklyn.
Creating dishes like cataplana that blended his Italian and Portuguese background.
“This particular dish would be made by my mother,” said Deacon Ruggiero, “basically putting things together like seafood, clams and mussels and shrimp, basically whatever, whatever you enjoy.”
“It was kind of very beautiful in a sense, because we had we went together as a family, to mass and got to celebrate together, the holy eucharist and, and being around, the lord’s table and then coming together as a family, to be around our own table, with one another,” said Deacon Ruggiero.
Deacon Robert’s call to the priesthood started at a young age but he admits he wasn’t ready to listen yet. He spent years working as a layperson in the Diocese of Brooklyn.
Father Thomas Doyle, the pastor at Good Shepherd church encouraged him to follow his vocation.
“Whether or not it was in a parish or diocesan office or as a DRE in a parish, he was always determined to to be a part of the church and to be part of something greater,” said Father Doyle.
At 55 years old, Deacon Robert is the oldest of the transitional deacons that will be ordained to the priesthood, but he knows the timing was perfect.
“There was something holding me back, and it wasn’t until I made that consecration. to Saint Joseph that just, like, opened the pathway,” said Deacon Ruggiero.
And Deacon Robert hopes to use his life experience to help the faithful.
“We need to be spiritual fathers. We need to be spiritual physicians, you know, and we need to bring healing into the life of the church spiritually, emotionally and bodily,” said Deacon Ruggiero.
Deacon Robert says he won’t be hanging up his serving spoon anytime soon.
He’s merely devoting his time to feeding those hungry for the Lord.
Currents News, New York’s nightly Catholic television newscast, will premiere a “School Year in Review” special featuring stories highlighting the achievements of students and educators within the Catholic schools and academies throughout Brooklyn and Queens.
Airing on Friday, June 13, 2025, at 7 p.m. EST, Currents News anchor Christine Persichette will host this special kickoff to Summer 2025, looking back at some of the best moments in and out of the classroom.
The stories will include:
— An in-depth look into how Catholic schools in Brooklyn and Queens are outperforming New York City public schools.
— A dual language program at a Queens academy that helped a non-English speaking student learn the language and succeed.
— A dive into the digital world with one elementary school whose students are producing their own podcast.
— How a Catholic high school in Queens reinvented itself and is now welcoming younger students into its hallowed halls.
— Why building bonds between student and teacher at one Brooklyn high school starts on the dance floor.
Ordination to the priesthood is fast approaching in the Diocese of Brooklyn, and one deacon is ready to take his community-building culinary skills from the kitchen table to the Lord’s Table.
Graduates from a Queens Catholic school were reunited with their beloved first grade teacher during a class reunion.
Bedtime stories with his own kids inspired one Catholic dad to write children’s books. He’s hoping they’ll help other fathers create fond memories, too.
GLENDALE — At 98, Sister Theresa McCombe still remembers her first-grade classroom at St. Pancras School, which she recalled always smelled of pickles from a nearby factory, and the “exceptional” students she taught.
After 11 years, she said her heart broke when she was transferred out.
“I was very comfortable in St. Pancras. I love the community, the parish, but obedience called me,” said Sister Theresa, who was known as Sister Marie Germaine when she taught at the school from 1947 to 1957. “I eventually wound up teaching high school, but in my heart, I was always a first-grade teacher.”
She said she never expected a Sunday Mass in May at the Church of St. Aidan in Williston Park, New York, to reconnect her with a student she taught nearly 70 years ago, or for that encounter to lead her to a reunion with 20 more.
“It’s so humbling,” Sister Theresa said. “I never thought in my wildest dreams that students I taught so many years ago would remember me.”
Sister Theresa McCombe with her former students. (Photos: Alexandra Moyen)
For the past 20 years, approximately 30 alumni from the Class of 1961 at St. Pancras School have met annually to catch up, reminisce, and expand their circle as they track down classmates through social media.
This year’s reunion, held on June 11 at Zum Stammtisch Restaurant in Glendale, took on special meaning when the students were joined by Sister Theresa, whom they had often spoken about but never expected to see again.
When Ed Heinsohn ran into Sister Theresa a month ago at the Church of St. Aidan, he said he didn’t realize she was his first-grade teacher. As they exchanged small talk, she mentioned she was a Dominican Sister of Amityville, and he replied that they had once taught him.
“And she goes, ‘Who was your first grade teacher?’ And then it struck me,” Heinsohn said. “I go, ‘Sister Marie Germaine,’ And she goes, ‘That’s me.’ I was thunderstruck.”
He said he then shared an old picture on his phone with her, showing the class.
Heinsohn then shared the news of his encounter with fellow Class of 1961 alum Dennis Macauley, who suggested inviting Sister Theresa to the reunion.
“I thought the rest of the class would be enthralled like I was and because of the way we met, too,” Heinsohn said. “There’s got to be the hand of God involved with this or something. You just don’t meet your first-grade [teacher].”
Macauley said he never thought he would see Sister Theresa again. He recalled the first time he met her, when he was experiencing first-day-of-school nervousness while waiting in line with his father to enter the building. The pressure became too much, and Macauley said he ran home a block away and hid until his parents found him.
“This time, my mother took me,” Macauley recalled. “All the kids were in class by this time, so she took me to the principal’s office, and the principal took me by the ear and led me down to the first grade class, and she knocked on the door, and this kindly [sister] opened the door, it was Sister Marie Germaine.”
“She was kind and saw how upset I was, and then she said, ‘Don’t worry, Dennis, everything will be fine,’ ” he added. “That’s the kind of person she was.”
Maureen Kane, who also graduated from St. Pancras in 1961, said learning about the lives and successes of her former classmates at each reunion is a reflection of the “good work habits” they learned from teachers like Sister Theresa.
Now 77, Kane said the reunions feel more important than ever.
“Part of it is enjoying, and the other part is that we have the motivation to do it because it’s fun to find someone, be able to say, ‘Come and visit us,’ ” Kane said. “If we find somebody and they can have a few laughs, it’s a great victory.”
Sister Theresa said she always felt at home in St. Pancras School, which closed in 2018. The school opened its doors in 1908, serving students from kindergarten through eighth grade.
“I lived with wonderful sisters. There are so many people that I remember who have passed away, and it was a blessing to have lived with them and shared our mission of bringing Christ into students’ lives,” Sister Theresa said. “I’m overwhelmed.”
Before the day ended, the group posed for their annual reunion photo. This year, Sister Theresa was in front, surrounded by the students she taught seven decades ago.
As for future reunions?
“Absolutely,” Sister Theresa said. “I love to party.”
Sister Theresa McCombe was able to reconnect with her students at the St. Pancras School. Here, she is seen shaking hands with one of them, Maureen Kane.
These days Michael Shoule doesn’t read to his teenage children much, but that’s how his career as an author started.
Bedtime story time with his kids inspired him to write books that he hopes will create fond memories for dads who are reading to their little ones, too.
The New York State Senate has passed a bill that legalizes assisted suicide – Catholic bishops in the state are warning that the Medical Aid In Dying Act is a slippery slope that undermines the sanctity of life.
Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan is expressing his concern as the Church in New York faces a pivotal moment in its fight to protect human dignity.
A priest ministering in the Diocese of Brooklyn is battling cancer and could be offered assisted suicide if that bill is signed into law – he shares what the fight for life means to him.
