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Currents News Special: Coming to Catholicism

In the Diocese of Brooklyn nearly 700 people were baptized into the Catholic faith at the Easter Vigil this year.

Currents News was there as hundreds of catechumens took part in the time-honored tradition of the Rite of Election.

Meet the soon-to-be Catholics of Brooklyn and Queens and learn how they are preparing to take the next step in their faith journey.

While catechumens prepare for the future, parishioners across the Diocese of Brooklyn are currently on the last leg of a different journey during the Lenten Pilgrimage.

TONIGHT AT 7: Three Diocese Unite for Reconciliation Monday Services

By The Tablet and Currents News Staff

PROSPECT HEIGHTS — Catholics in the Diocese of Brooklyn, the Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Rockville Centre will have the opportunity to become closer to God if they go to a church to confess their sins on April 14 — the day known as Reconciliation Monday.

Churches in the two dioceses and the archdiocese will be open from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and again from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., and priests will be on hand to welcome the faithful who wish to receive the sacrament of reconciliation in preparation for Easter Sunday on April 20.

Parishioners can contact their local churches for more information and to verify availability, or visit the Diocese of Brooklyn’s website at https://dioceseofbrooklyn.org/directories/parishes/ to find a parish near them.

Reconciliation Monday is a day in the Lenten season that gives the faithful a chance to become reconciled with God as they prepare for Easter Sunday. Lent is traditionally a time for the faithful to reflect, repent and seek forgiveness for their sins in advance of celebrating Christ’s resurrection.

Holy Week Begins in the Diocese of Brooklyn at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph

By Currents News

The Brooklyn streets filled with parishioners and palms, as hundreds kicked off Holy Week with a procession to the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph.

The walk is meant to make them like Christ, re-enacting Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. 

But the Diocese of Brooklyn is reminding the faithful– the Palm Sunday procession and service means a sacred time– starts now. 

Dozens celebrating Palm Sunday, including some who will make their sacraments at the end of this Holy Week.

Together they commemorated Jesus’ triumphant entrance into Jerusalem, where those who greeted him waved palms.

“For me, it’s a special day and we meet other people,” Gloria Ordonez said. “I believe in God, and it’s a celebration day, we have faith, and for me, faith is very important.”

“We just make sure that we come and process with our palms, sing and just be happy and just say, ‘ok Christ is alive!’” Sandra Adams said.

Through song, they prayed– stopping traffic in busy Prospect Heights, causing pedestrians to stop– to see what was going on.

“It’s a sign that people notice, that they see us sharing our faith,” Bishop Robert Brennan said. “They see us walking with the Lord, and hopefully that can be a moment of evangelization or at least a moment of hope that there’s something more than the everyday activity- there’s something deeper to this life.”

Bishop Robert Brennan led the half-mile procession from Grand Army Plaza to the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph, where he celebrated mass.

Palm Sunday begins the holiest week for catholics, and the shepherd of the Diocese of Brooklyn says we shouldn’t treat it like any other.

“It’s easy to just go through the motions or squeeze them in between all of our other responsibilities, but there’s a real call to make this truly a holy week,” Bishop Brennan said. 

Bay Ridge ‘Holiday House’ Homeowner Decorates for Easter, Creating Community Joy

By Katie Vasquez

Spring flowers, bunnies and eggs, all these things are part of the joys of Easter.

Roy Jensen owns a house on 79th street in Brooklyn, which he has been decorating since he moved in.

 “1990. We started off small, but then we grew,” said Jensen, whose home is know as Bay Ridge’s “Holiday House.”

The house goes all out for every holiday, like Christmas, Valentine’s day and now Easter. Jensen starts planning the display four months ahead of time, acquiring hundreds of ornate finds. 

“Pretty much everything is new if I can find unique stuff. Always look for unique. It’s not generic, you know, I go all over,” he told Currents News” Sometimes I’m up at five in the morning until 10:00 at night looking for stuff. Jersey, Long Island, everywhere. It’s got to be unique or else i’m not going to buy it.”

The Brooklyn homeowner noticed that people were yearning for hope, especially after the pandemic.

“People were so depressed and they saw our lights and it was like a beacon for them. They congregated here and it brought them happiness. That really shocked me, and they asked if I could keep the lights on all night so that’s when I really started doing more and more after that,” said Jensen.  

His neighbor, Melissa Zarkos, says seeing the decorations has lifted her spirits. 

 “It makes a lot of people happy,” the parishioner of St. Ephrem Church in Bay Ridge told Currents News. “Stuff like that makes me happy… being a Catholic, I kind of like it. You know, it brings joy being Christian and everything, so it’s really nice. I like the bunnies.” 

A realtor and Our Lady of Angels parishioner, Louis Guida is preparing for the resurrection of Christ on Easter and says the decorated home in the neighborhood is a reminder of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. 

 “The fact that our Lord and savior did what he did for us and sacrificed, He says to come to us like a child, right? That you come to Jesus like a child, right? And, I think that every time I pass this house around, especially other holidays, I always feel like a child,” he told Currents News.

Although the home has gone viral on social media, drawing people from as far as New Jersey, Jensen says he doesn’t do it for money or fame, just to make others smile. 

“They flock here to bring some joy, you know. And that really excites me.”

Jensen is already planning his next display for the Fourth of July.

Catholic News Headlines for Friday 4/11/2025

The owner of Brooklyn’s viral “Holiday House” raised his children with a Catholic education. Now he’s raising the bar for Easter decor in his neighborhood.

The Diocese of Brooklyn’s Lenten Pilgrimage is helping people prepare spiritually for the Easter Holiday as parishioners make their last few stops along the route.

The Vatican is reporting that Pope Francis’ surprise visit to St. Peter’s Basilica is a clear sign that the Holy Father’s health is improving.

Catholic News Headlines for Thursday 4/10/2025

One restaurant in Westchester County, New York is making it easier to observe the Lenten Friday practice of abstaining from meat when going out to eat.

As the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Lenten Pilgrimage comes to a close, the faithful are making their last few stops across Brooklyn and Queens leading up to the Easter Triduum.

A NYC Catholic school-led project is providing lab-grown greens to one of God’s creatures – Currents News has the update on La Salle Academy’s hydroponics lab.

Westchester Restaurant ‘Odo’ Offers Up Meat-Free Menu for Lent

By Christine Persichette

On an average Friday night at Odo in Westchester, standing over a sizzling stove you can find owner Nick Odoardi. Stirring, sautéing and dishing out mouthwatering meals for customers at the cozy Tuckahoe hotspot.

But on Fridays in Lent, the Catholic chef is cooking up something special an entirely meatless menu.

“The Lenten menu has some of our regular menu items on it, it’s just more geared towards, instead of, if you’re devout Catholic, you have to go through our regular menu and see what you can have, can’t have, rather than it just being very easy for you and just all being on one page,” Odoardi said.

Everything on the menu is meat-free and unique. Nick sprinkles his Italian Catholic roots into every dish he concocts.

“There was a missing niche for a restaurant with the food that I ate growing up. When I cook it’s more nostalgic, it’s more bringing back fond memories,” he said.

And since he doesn’t eat meat on Fridays during Lent, he figured many of his customers probably don’t either, like Stephen and Dina Grant. The Catholic couple says Odo is already a favorite eatery of theirs, but being handed the special menu on a Friday night makes it that much better.

“We were really just gratified that they had a menu that was appropriate for Lent,”  said Stephen Grant. “I think with an Italian restaurant I think you can’t go wrong with a pasta dish or fish dish or something like that – but I felt especially welcomed.”

And with the number of options on the menu, their Lenten practice of abstaining from meat on Fridays doesn’t seem like much of a sacrifice.

“I ordered a pasta dish that had eggplant and tomato sauce,” Dina Grant said. “Don’t ask me the Italian name. Delicious!”

Sydney Gears Up for 2028 International Eucharistic Congress

By Jessica Easthope

Preparations are already underway down under: Australia will host the next International Eucharistic Congress in 2028 in its capital city, Sydney. 

Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher has been holding meetings with the Vatican to iron out the details of the event. 

“You have a great opportunity to evangelize and catechize and excite people about the faith,” Archbishop Fisher said. “Then the celebration itself, and then the years afterwards of reaping the fruits of that.”

Archbishop Fisher says one of the greatest challenges for Catholics today is valuing the Eucharist.

“After the period of COVID, after a long period of secularization in Western countries, like my own, there are a lot of Catholics who are not very connected with the Eucharistic or as connected as they should be,” he said. “And I would hope to rejuvenize people’s love for the Eucharistic, for the celebration of Eucharist, for praying with the Eucharist, for the Eucharistic community that is in each parish church and group.”

The arrival of Catholics from the Philippines, Lebanon and Vietnam to the Archdiocese of Sydney has brought a new vitality and even some never-before-seen traditions to Australia.

“Our Corpus Christi procession is growing and growing and growing every year to such a scale that it is now is a very major operation, and it closes many streets to make it happen,” Archbishop Fisher said. “We also have processions for Our Lady, procession for St. Joseph. The processions are growing and growing in Sydney.”

It’s a popular piety that paves the way for the next International Eucharistic Congress. 

Student Lab Grown Greens Feed God’s Creatures

By Currents News

In our second update, a student-led project provided lab-grown greens to one of God’s creatures.

Freddie and Quack Quack are two ducks currently being helped by Mary Beth Artz, a licensed wildlife rehabilitator.

For years, the Catholic has been on a mission to help birds in Prospect Park and recently, she received sweet greens from Currents News’ own Katie Vasquez. 

 They come from the hydroponics lab at La Salle Academy in Manhattan’s East Village . 

The “green team” there has been using their crops to feed the hungry in their community. But thanks to Katie, they can now say they are helping all of God’s creations.