By Katie Vasquez
The Diocese of Immigrants has welcomed parishioners and priests from across the world.
French Deacon Benoit Chavanne says he already feels like he’s part of the church in Brooklyn and Queens, even though his ordination day in the Diocese of Brooklyn isn’t for another week and a half.
A new scholarship at St. John’s University is helping future Catholic educators afford college and give back by teaching in Diocese of Brooklyn schools.
A Queens Catholic man biked nearly 700 miles through Poland to raise awareness about antisemitism — he received a special blessing from Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican.
The Holy Father is using his public audiences to call for peace in the Middle East.
Pope Francis’ biography is now available in Braille, making his story more accessible to all.
By Katie Vasquez
High school has wrapped up for Jillian Anzalone, and now the St Francis Prep senior is ready to take on her next challenge, college.
She plans to attend St John’s University in the fall, her dream school.
“I didn’t want to go far. But the campus is really pretty,” said Anzalone, a senior at St Francis Prep. “I just really loved it when I went there.”
She’s always loved being around kids and decided teaching would be the best career path for her.
“I realized this summer when Prep gave me the opportunity to work with the summer youth camp for the cheerleading team, I got to really work with kids and like, be in charge,” said Anzalone.
And the Queens Catholic college is helping make that dream a reality, thanks to a new partnership between the Office of the Superintendent of Schools for the Diocese of Brooklyn and St John’s university.
“It’s a calling to teach at a Catholic school, calling to be a Catholic school principal, and I think it’s giving them the opportunity and the financial support or assistance to fulfill that dream, and then also, again, greatly benefiting us by giving us qualified Catholic educators,” said Joan McMaster, the deputy superintendent of Diocese of Brooklyn schools.
The “Future Catholic School Teacher Scholarship” aims to recruit and train new elementary school teachers for the Diocese of Brooklyn by providing a $10,000 scholarship over 4 years. In exchange students like Jillian agree to teach in a catholic elementary school at least four years after graduating or they have to pay the money back.
“If we put money in the game, Brooklyn put some money in the game, then we want to be sure these are students are going to go back to teaching in the Brooklyn schools,” said James Wolfinger, the dean of the school of education for St John’s University.
Not only does it alleviate the financial burden for students but schools will get teachers with a strong faith foundation.
“A place like St John’s, given our faith background at this university, can really focus on the preparation of teachers in ways that meet the needs of those schools,” said Wolfinger.
“It will allow our schools to continue to recruit qualified teachers. So for us, this is like a real win-win situation, especially in light of we’re all aware of the teacher shortage,” said McMaster.
Jillian is looking forward to continuing the path she’s always wanted.
“I thought it was like the best opportunity because it just works out in my plan that I want to pursue.”
The program will also help students pursue masters degrees with up to a 70 percent reduction on tuition.
For more information on the scholarship, you can visit the Institute for Catholic schools page on St John’s University website.
By Katie Vasquez
Heading to college can be costly, but a new scholarship program at St. John’s University is helping a St. Francis Prep student earn her degree while helping Diocese of Brooklyn schools.
Some eighth graders in the Diocese of Brooklyn wrapped up their podcast season with a special guest — Bishop Robert Brennan.
Thousands gathered at Rate Field, home of the Chicago White Sox, for a special Mass honoring Pope Leo XIV.
Inspired by reading bedtime stories to his own kids, a Catholic dad is writing books that celebrate fatherhood, family, and even college football.
Fourth graders at a Queens Catholic academy are celebrating becoming published authors.
By Currents News and Simone Orendain
CHICAGO (OSV News) — Under a bright sun, around an altar set up at centerfield, more than a dozen priests and bishops led by Chicago Cardinal Blase J. Cupich concelebrated a special Mass for the election of a first-ever Chicago-born pope. Trinity Sunday’s vigil Mass June 14 was at Rate Field, the home park of the Chicago White Sox, Pope Leo XIV’s favorite baseball team.
Concelebrants included the Archdiocese of Chicago’s auxiliary bishops as well as bishops from surrounding dioceses, several Augustinian priests, the incoming president of Chicago’s Catholic Theological Union and other clergy. The liturgy included multilingual readings and prayers of the faithful, with the psalm sung in Spanish and English.
From the ambo, Cardinal Cupich looked around the stadium nearly filled with tens of thousands of people.
“Wow. I think I will remember this moment as ‘the sermon on the mound,’” he said in a tongue-in-cheek reference to Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount recounted in Matthew 5-7.
Cardinal Cupich then preached a homily on people’s inherent dignity, inviting the faithful to “live authentically” and taking a forceful stand against the country’s immigration policy.
Chicago Cardinal Blase J. Cupich delivers the homily as he celebrates a June 14, 2025, Mass in honor of Pope Leo XIV at Rate Field in Chicago, home of the Chicago White Sox baseball team. The Chicago-born pontiff, elected May 8, is the first American pope in history. (OSV News photo/Simone Orendain)
The cardinal reminded those present and watching via livestream that their worth comes from the fact that they are loved by God, that they are called to a life of self-giving service, and that life is to be lived not in isolation but through an interconnectedness with others, mirroring the relationship between the three persons of the Holy Trinity.
RELATED: Chicago Archdiocese, White Sox Team up To Celebrate Pope Leo and His ‘Message of Peace’
In emphasizing people’s interconnection, he said, “Humanity is greatly diminished whenever the unborn or the undocumented, the unemployed, the unhealthy, are excluded, uninvited, and unwelcome or whenever we tell ourselves that they are of no concern to us.” The comment received widespread applause.
While acknowledging nations’ duties to secure their borders, protect the public “and enact reasonable rules for immigration,” Cardinal Cupich said, “it is wrong to scapegoat those who are here without documents. For indeed, they are here due to a broken immigration system” to sustained clapping.
“Both parties have failed to fix” that system, he admonished.
“(The undocumented) are here, not by invasion, but by invitation,” he said as the applause and cheers became louder.
“(It’s) an invitation to harvest the fruits of the earth and feed our families, an invitation to clean our tables, homes and hotel rooms, an invitation to landscape our lawns, and yes, even an invitation to care for our children and our elderly. I have no doubt that if we are honest about our connections to one another, we can respond to this moment and thus reclaim our calling to live as authentic persons in the image of the divine persons,” he said.
Pope Leo XIV, a dual citizen of both the United States and Peru, spent nearly 20 years on mission in Peru, where he taught seminarians and practiced canon law, and later led the Diocese of Chiclayo along the country’s impoverished northwestern coast.
The Mass was preceded by a video message from Pope Leo XIV addressed mainly to young people, instructing them to look deep within their hearts and recognize that God is calling them to a relationship with his son Jesus Christ, and to be the “light of hope to the world.”
In the video, the pope referred to one of St. Augustine’s famous phrases, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you, O God,’” and, he added, “that restlessness is not a bad thing.”
“We shouldn’t look for ways to put out the fire, to eliminate or even numb ourselves to the tensions that we feel, the difficulties that we experience. We should rather get in touch with our own hearts and recognize that God can work in our lives, through our lives, and through us, reach out to other people,” Pope Leo said.
The pope stressed that God’s love is a source of hope and strength, which is a message young people can proliferate, he said.
After the Mass and celebration of the first Chicago native’s election to the papacy, the faithful pose with Pope Leo XIV cutouts stationed throughout the concession areas of Rate Field, the home park of the Chicago White Sox, Pope Leo’s favorite team. Chicago, June 14, 2025. (OSV News photo/Simone Orendain)
Among the attendees was Matthew Agoncillo, a student at the University of Illinois in Chicago who volunteered with its Newman Center during the distribution of the Eucharist at the Mass. He said he felt challenged by Pope Leo’s message.
“I think it’s sometimes hard to conceptualize what that means,” Agoncillo, 20, told OSV News. “For me, being a light is just spreading the faith through an abundance of love through yourself and spreading that to other people, which will hopefully send more light to other people, and the whole world can be on fire with a bunch of joy. So I think it’s important to share your light with other people.”
Ian Moran, a recent University of Illinois in Chicago graduate, told OSV News that he enjoyed how the pope encouraged young people to dive deep in their faith.
“I know for me, growing up, I didn’t really hear that that often,” the 23-year-old said. “Hearing that from the pope and him … actually encouraging us as young people, like, ‘Make this your own, Jesus loves you’ — he wants you to take on the faith as your own, I thought that was very good.”
RELATED: Pope’s Brother Says Even As a Baby, Future Pontiff Had a Spiritual ‘Air’ About Him
The pre-Mass program started with the national anthem of Peru sung by Luis Galvez, a native Peruvian and music director at a suburban Chicago parish. That was followed by the U.S. national anthem, sung by the choir of Leo High School, a Chicago Catholic boys school that is a contender in this season’s America’s Got Talent.
Prior to the Mass, Pope Leo’s longtime friend and high school classmate, Augustinian Father John Merkelis, talked about the pope’s humble, “regular guy” character. His former professor at Catholic Theological Union, Sister Dianne Bergant, a member of the Sisters St. Agnes of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, said she kept all her records from 45 years of teaching and he was a good student.
In the minutes before the program began, Cardinal Cupich brought to the stage a group of first through fourth grade students from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Academy on Chicago’s Northside, who were dressed as cardinals, with one in papal attire. The students had held a mock conclave, complete with billowing white smoke, which drew international attention when they elected their own pretend pope May 6, a day before the real conclave started. The newly-elected mock pope took the name Augustine.
The June 14 celebration hosted by the Chicago White Sox was organized by the Archdiocese of Chicago. Chicago Catholic, the archdiocese’s news outlet, reported that, days after the conclave, Cardinal Cupich was dining with donors who happened to know the owner of the White Sox, Jerry Reinsdorf, when the cardinal’s staff brought up the idea for a celebration and Mass. The donors reportedly talked to Reinsdorf, which set plans for the event in motion.
Jennifer Esposito of Oak Park, a suburb west of Chicago, said she was happy to attend the June 14 event in honor of Chicago’s native son.
“It’s still settling in that we have an American pope, let alone a pope from Chicago who sat in this stadium,” she told OSV News. “I mean, it’s just crazy, but I’m so glad I did (attend). That was one of the most beautiful experiences, just to have all these people together and just the way they celebrated all the different cultures, I thought was fantastic. And I loved his (the pope’s) message. I hope it resonates with young people, and I hope he’s going to be a good beacon for our church.”
A family arrives ahead a June 14, 2025, Mass in honor of Pope Leo XIV at Rate Field in Chicago, home of the Chicago White Sox baseball team. The Chicago-born pontiff, elected May 8, is the first American pope in history. (OSV News photo/Carlos Osorio, Reuters)
By Katie Vasquez
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.
By Katie Vasquez
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.
By Katie Vasquez
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.”
Growing up in Carroll Gardens, he remembers spending time with family after Sunday mass at Sacred Heart-St Stephen’s Church.
“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.