By Katie Vasquez
Prospect Park is a favorite destination for bird watchers, especially during spring migration season. But a major new restoration project has some nature lovers worried about what it could mean for the hundreds of birds that rely on the park as a resting place.
By Jessica Easthope
A small glass structure in Lower Manhattan is being transformed into something much bigger — a first-of-its-kind support hub for New York City delivery workers. Designed to offer resources, shelter, and services, the new space is sending a powerful message about dignity and belonging.
New York City has launched an interactive online map that lets users explore the stories behind nearly 2,500 co-named streets, parks, and public spaces across the five boroughs. For Holy Trinity Church in Queens, the map is a chance to spread the word about a former beloved pastor.
Pope Leo XIV prays with the faithful of Equatorial Guinea, the fourth and final country of his 11-day apostolic journey in Africa.
Catholic Charities of New York has joined forces with immigration advocates to offer support and services to the city’s newly arrived.
By Katie Vasquez
The corner of 14th Avenue and 143rd Street overlooks Holy Trinity Church in Whitestone, a place long tied to the legacy of Rev. Marcello Latona.
Since 2009, the intersection has also been known as Reverend Marcello Latona Street, honoring the pastor who led the parish from 1990 to 2005 before his death in 2008. Community members said the designation reflects his lasting impact.
“As a man of the community, they decided that he earned it,” one resident said.
Barbara Eivers, who served as a parish secretary alongside Latona for 12 years, said he was deeply committed to his parishioners.
“He was just a man of the people. If a parishioner wanted to see him privately, he always had time for me,” Eivers said. “And if there was a problem in the town and they needed people, he was there.”
For former Holy Trinity pastor Father Joseph Gibino, Latona’s legacy set a high bar.
“Beloved does not do enough justice to what he was at Holy Trinity,” Gibino said. “He was a legend in the parish and still is.”
After Latona’s death, parishioner Joseph Governale helped make the street co-naming a reality.
“He was a great guy. He wasn’t self-centered,” Governale said. “He wanted what was good for this parish and for this community.”
Now, New York City has made it easier to explore the stories behind such honors. The Department of Records and Information Services has upgraded its interactive online map, allowing users to access biographical information for nearly 2,500 co-named streets, parks and public spaces across the five boroughs.
Latona’s legacy has remained strong in Whitestone, and parishioners say the new tool will help others learn about his contributions.
“Maybe more people will know where it is now,” Eivers said. “But it’s where it should be.”
Governale added that the recognition can strengthen ties within the community.
“It can help the people in the area get closer to the church,” he said.
Gibino said the expanded access to these stories reflects a broader opportunity for connection.
“All of these priests who have touched the minds and hearts of the faithful now are touching people anywhere in the world,” he said. “Isn’t it extraordinary how evangelization can take place in many different ways, including the memory of those who were such beloved evangelizers for the church?”
In Whitestone, the memory of Rev. Marcello Latona continues to endure — now with the potential to reach far beyond the neighborhood he served.
By Katie Vasquez
New York City has launched an interactive online map that lets users explore the stories behind nearly 25,000 co-named streets, parks, and public spaces across the five boroughs. The new tool is giving communities a fresh way to connect with local history and the people honored on neighborhood signs.
By Jessica Easthope
In 2004, Joe Macken was settled near Albany, but he missed New York City, having grown up in Middle Village, Queens.
To ease his homesickness, Macken decided to make tiny replicas of iconic buildings from the Big Apple’s skyline. It was fun, so the truck driver kept on going during whatever free time he had, aside from when he was at work or raising his three children.
Now, 22 years later, his hobby has morphed into a labor of love titled “He Built This City: Joe Macken’s Model.”
This model landscape, 50 by 27 feet, comprises 320 individual sections to account for all five boroughs. It is on display through Labor Day Weekend in the Dinan Miller Gallery of the Museum of the City of New York, 1220 5th Ave.
“This is like a third of my life,” Macken said on March 9 during an interview at the museum. “It’s a passion that I started 22 years ago, and I just couldn’t stop.”
Macken said he had grown up playing with Lincoln Logs and Legos, but it wasn’t until he was in his 40s, after relocating to Clifton Park north of Albany, that he considered dabbling in “miniatures.”
“I kind of missed the city,” he recalled. “And I knew I wasn’t going to be seeing it much anymore. But I had all this balsa wood. So, I figured, ‘Let me go down to the basement and just build one building.’ And I did.”
“A couple of days later, I built another one, and I just kept building,” Macken said. “Then I realized how big it was getting. And I was getting better at it, faster.
“It was the consistency of it, and the love of doing it, that made me finish it.”
Macken said the model was displayed for the first time at a fair in upstate New York last September. His eldest child, daughter Erika, 22, helped him publicize it on social media, and interview requests from news organizations ensued.
The team at the Museum of the City of New York also noticed and invited Macken to display the model in the Dinan Miller Gallery. He happily accepted, and he assembled it there in February, a task that took 14 hours, he said.
Nearly one million structures are represented, including the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, the Freedom Tower at One World Trade Center, and major connectors such as the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Verrazzano bridges.
Macken used history books, photos, and later satellite images to ensure accuracy.
Observers can use binoculars tethered at the model’s edges to peer down on the Ferris wheel and boardwalk of Coney Island, Yankee Stadium and Citi Field, the jail complex at Rikers Island, the Hudson and East rivers, plus the New York Harbor.
The only things out of place are the Twin Towers, lost in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Here, they retain their original spots, with the Freedom Tower alongside. Macken said it’s his way to honor their legacies and the lives lost in the attacks.
Virtually every place of worship in Queens and Brooklyn, famously called the City of Churches, is also represented.
Included is Macken’s home parish, St. Margaret Church, and its school, where he was educated in his old neighborhood, Middle Village. He graduated from Christ the King High School, also in Middle Village.
“I remember actually building St. Margaret because there’s a parish center right next door to it that’s kind of new, and I wanted to make sure I got that in there,” Macken said. “I built my block, the park that’s across the street, and then the school five blocks away.
“And I remember building my high school.”
Macken has fond memories of his neighborhood, like his dad taking him to Mass every Sunday. He said his mother, who now lives on Long Island, regularly asks if he makes it to Mass, but he usually drives trucks on Sundays.
He visited the old neighborhood on March 8, took photos of his old school, and entered the church where a 5 p.m. Mass was underway.
“I sat in one of the pews,” he said. “And I was looking at my old church, and I was thinking, like, ‘wow.’ I grew up a Catholic, and I’m very happy and very proud of that.”
Macken said he plans to build more model landscapes. Next stops: Westchester County and areas of Connecticut.
WANT TO GO?
For more information about the exhibit, visit:
mcny.org/exhibition/he-built-city
By Jessica Easthope and Paula Katinas
Joe Oppedisano’s favorite item in his restaurant isn’t margherita pizza, penne vodka, or calamari Napolitano. In fact, it’s not even on the menu — it’s in the basement.
Underneath the dining room at Il Bacco Ristorante, Oppedisano’s popular dining spot on Northern Boulevard in Little Neck, is a life-sized, copper statue of St. Padre Pio.
The statue will soon have a new home, thanks to Oppedisano, 67, who is putting the finishing touches on a park he is having built on Little Neck Parkway, around the corner from the restaurant, where he plans to place the statue for all to see.
The restaurateur has a deep devotion to Padre Pio, whom he said has helped him through two major turning points in his life — including surviving a plane crash — and is eager to share it with others.
Construction is in the final stages for the park, which is located on a plot owned by Oppedisano. When it’s completed, the park will feature the statue of Padre Pio, statues of the Holy Family and other saints, and a seating area with benches.
Designed to be a quiet, peaceful oasis where people can pray, meditate, or just sit and contemplate life, the park will have its grand opening on April 26 and will be open to the public from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week.
“It’s going to be open to everyone,” he said. “Whoever needs it.”
Oppedisano, who was born in Calabria in 1958, moved from southern Italy to the U.S. at the age of 13 and grew up to become a restaurateur, explained that he hasn’t always had a devotion to Padre Pio.
“I can’t wait to get him out of the basement and put him where he belongs — where people can see him,” says Joe Oppedisano, talking about the statue of Padre Pio he brought over from Italy. The statue is currently in the basement of his restaurant, Il Bacco Ristorante in Little Neck. (Photos: Paula Katinas)
“I heard of him, of course,” he said. “But to me, he was a saint like any other saint. No difference.”
Padre Pio (1887-1968) was an Italian friar of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin who bore the stigmata — the wounds of Jesus Christ on the cross, on his hands and feet — and was known as a mystic. He was canonized by Pope St. John Paul II in 2002.
Oppedisano, who has made numerous trips to Italy to visit Padre Pio’s tomb in San Giovanni Rotondo in southern Italy, said he saw the statue during one of his journeys and decided to buy it and have it shipped home. The statue depicts the saint with his arms raised, as if greeting a visitor, and features images of the stigmata on his hands.
The first time Oppedisano felt Padre Pio’s presence in his life was 15 years ago, in 2010, when he was about to open Il Bacco Ristorante at its current location. He had operated the restaurant for many years in another spot on the same Little Neck block, but needed a bigger place as his business grew.
Three days before opening, he was sitting at a back table talking to one of his servers about the mother of another worker who had given him a gift — a candle with Padre Pio’s image — which she said would ensure that the saint would bring him good luck. She explained that her grandfather was Padre Pio’s cousin.
While talking to the waiter, Oppedisano pointed to the candle. At that moment, he felt a sensation throughout his entire body “like someone was grabbing me,” he recalled, “and I started crying like a baby.”
He was convinced that it was Padre Pio.
“And I’ve been a firm believer ever since,” he added.
Joe Oppedisano had a grotto erected on the vacant lot he owns, in which statues of Padre Pio and the Holy Family will be placed before the grand opening on April 26. Oppedisano said he envisions the spot as a park where people can sit, pray, and enjoy quiet time to reflect.
The second time he felt Padre Pio’s intercession was on Oct. 4, 2020, when he survived a plane crash on the Long Island Sound near the Throggs Neck Bridge that killed one of his friends. Oppedisano, who has a pilot license, was operating a single-engine Cessna with two friends, Maggie O’Neil and Jose Urena, aboard and was getting set to land when a boat obscured his path.
“In just one second, everything changed,” he recalled.
In trying to avoid the boat, the plane crashed into a pier and was destroyed. O’Neil was killed. Oppedisano and Urena survived, but both sustained multiple injuries.
Oppedisano, who suffered a fractured spine, 16 broken ribs, and a pulverized ankle and heel, underwent 10 surgeries and was hospitalized for four weeks.
He asked for Padre Pio’s intercession every day during his recovery.
“I truly believe Padre Pio helped me. I’m alive, and I’m here today,” he said.
With his park dedicated to Padre Pio, Oppedisano said he hopes others will also ask for the saint’s intercession.
“Look at what he did for me,” he said. “He can help you, too.”
By Alexandra Moyen
PROSPECT HEIGHTS — As Maria Monge guided 15 young adults from across the Diocese of Brooklyn through the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph on April 18, she made sure to highlight the many works of art that filled the ceiling.
“Through art, you can find truth — and that truth is God,” said Monge, the coordinator of parish communications and outreach at the co-cathedral.
Monge hosted the walking tour of the co-cathedral on behalf of the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Youth and Young Adult Ministry. The day’s journey, which began at the co-cathedral and ended with Mass at St. Francis of Assisi-St. Blaise Parish in Prospect Lefferts Gardens was intended to teach the young adults about the history of the parishes.
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Abigail Castro, a parishioner at Ascension Parish in Elmhurst, said she has heard beautiful stories about the parishes in Brooklyn and participated in the walking tour to learn more.
“It was very beautiful. When I walked in (to the co-cathedral), I felt a peace and something that was very welcoming, without being said,” Castro said. “Walking into the church and seeing the different images of Mother Mary from different countries — it was very beautiful.
“I’ve never seen this in other churches.”
Beginning outside the co-cathedral before making their way inside — where they took in the many colorful murals lining the cathedral’s ceiling as tourists snapped pictures — the young adults learned about the history of the cathedral, which was built in 1912 and can hold over 1,000 parishioners.
They also found out about the symbolism behind the bronze statue of St. Joseph at the entrance (St. Joseph teaches Jesus how to hammer while holding the nail — representing his trust in God), the artwork throughout the co-cathedral (including 20 images of the Blessed Mother from around the world), the emblems of the bishops who have led the diocese, and the American saints depicted above the church entrance.
After touring the co-cathedral, the group made its way to St. Francis of Assisi-St. Blaise — with rosaries in hand and praying the Sacred Mysteries along the way — where Father James Kuroly, the diocese’s director of youth and young adult ministry, celebrated Mass, which marked the ongoing Franciscan Jubilee.
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“I think, especially for the young adults, they wonder, ‘Where am I in the church?’ They can feel alone,” Father Kuroly said. “But something like this, a simple gesture of walking, is symbolic to them, and shows they are not alone.”
Luceros Manzanares, associate director for the diocese’s Youth and Young Adult Ministry, said this was the second walking tour they hosted, explaining they are meant to foster community while showcasing the beauty of parishes around the diocese.
“It was beautiful,” Manzanares said. “We got to meet some new faces and for them to see each other, like, ‘Oh, there’s other young adults here, I don’t have to go somewhere else, I can foster a community here.’ ”
Catholics around the world are remembering the legacy of Pope Francis one year after his death.
Pope Leo XIV arrived in Equatorial Guinea and reflected on the legacy of Pope Francis during his trip through Africa.
Young adults from across the Diocese of Brooklyn went on a walking tour through Brooklyn, using art to dive deeper into parish history.
A Little Neck restaurant owner is opening a prayer space dedicated to Padre Pio after crediting the saint for blessings in his life.
By Currents News and Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – One year ago today, Pope Francis died at 7:35 a.m., April 21, 2025.
It came the day after Easter, when – barely able to raise his hands – he gave his blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world).
Looking drawn and worn, the 88-year-old pope from Argentina took his final ride in the popemobile, spending about 15 minutes among the crowd.
But then, the next morning, which was a major holiday in Italy, church bells tolled the death knell after U.S. Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church, announced that Pope Francis had died just a few hours ago.
“His whole life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and his church,” Cardinal Farrell said in a video announcement broadcast from the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where Pope Francis lived.
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The Wikimedia Foundation said that its “Deaths in 2025” entry, which included Pope Francis, was their second most-read entry during the year.
And plenty of people took the occasion to learn more about his life too, adding that “His English Wikipedia article was the 11th most-read (page) of the year.”
Elected March 13, 2013, Pope Francis was the first pope in history to come from the Southern Hemisphere, the first non-European to be elected in almost 1,300 years and the first Jesuit to serve as successor to St. Peter.
Following in the footsteps of his predecessors, Pope Francis was an untiring voice for peace, urging an end to armed conflict, supporting dialogue and encouraging reconciliation.
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He gave new energy to millions of Catholics – and caused concern for some – as he transformed the image of the papacy into a pastoral ministry based on personal encounters and strong convictions about poverty, mission and dialogue.
His simple lifestyle, which included his decision not to live in the Apostolic Palace and his choice of riding around Rome in a small Fiat or Ford instead of a Mercedes sedan, sent a message of austerity to Vatican officials and clergy throughout the church.
Although he repeatedly said he did not like to travel, he made 47 foreign trips, taking his message of Gospel joy to North and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia.
He was elected after Pope Benedict XVI retired in 2013.
Then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was already a known and respected figure within the College of Cardinals, so much so that no one disputed a respected Italian journal’s report that he had received the second-highest number of votes on all four ballots cast in the 2005 conclave that had elected Pope Benedict.
Elected on March 13, 2013, Cardinal Bergoglio chose the name Francis to honor St. Francis of Assisi.
“Go out” was Pope Francis’ constant plea to every Catholic, from curial cardinals to the people in the pews.
More than once, he told people that while the Bible presents Jesus as knocking at the door of people’s hearts to get in, today Jesus is knocking at the doors of parish churches trying to get out and among the people.