Lenten Pilgrimage: Students at St. Luke’s Taught Adoration

Monday’s Lenten Pilgrimage stop included a lesson about the body of Christ, as students at St. Luke’s Church in Whitestone, Queens, learned about adoration.

Pastor Father John Costello explained to the kids that the monstrance was holding the Eucharist and why Catholics pray before the body of Christ.

They then joined Bishop Brennan and the visiting pilgrims in adoration.

Each grade also repeated a special prayer, asking Jesus for love, forgiveness, and guidance.

Hundreds of students will soon take part in the Lenten pilgrimage Wednesday, Feb. 28.

Kids from across the Diocese of Brooklyn will head to Holy Family Church in Flushing to join a junior high school rally, which will be held at 10:30 am. on Wednesday, Feb. 28,

Be sure to tune into Currents News for full coverage.

Brooklyn Dad Leaves Behind a Life of Crime to Follow Jesus

by Katie Vasquez

When Johnny Chavez walks around South Williamsburg, he’s reminded of another life.

He grew up here with his parents and two sisters, but his life turned upside down when his parents divorced in his teens.

“I had to find some sense of gratification, some sense of belonging. and my friends were my, my refuge,” said Johnny Chavez, a member of the Neocatechumenal Way.

Johnny got involved with a gang, started selling drugs, and at 17 was arrested for armed robbery. Johnny was going down a bad path, and his godfather, Eduardo Mendoza knew he needed help.

“I saw that Johnny was suffering,” said Mendoza in Spanish.

Eduardo invited him to a mass for the Neocatechumenal Way, a spiritual movement that aims to deepen the faith of its members through ongoing formation.

Eduardo has been a member of the Neocatechumenal Way for three decades, and he says this community sparked something for Johnny.

“He looked at this and said this is the family, this is a family and that is what he wanted to continue,” said Mendoza.

Allowing God to open the door for Johnny to find a new life.

“Some of them were talking about drugs, about alcohol, nobody was judging them,” said Chavez, “So I felt like I belonged there.”

Johnny is now also part of the Neocatechumenal Way, raising his 8 kids in the Catholic faith.

His former pastor, Father Manuel Rodriguez, says Johnny’s growth is a powerful testament.

“Before knowing the church, before experiencing his conversion, you know, thinking of him like a father of eight children, it was something that he would never even dare, you know, to to to to to consider,” said Rodriguez.

Johnny also devotes his time to showing others the right path, through catechesis.

“We help them so that this, calling, which is very fragile, can maintain a sense of spark so they don’t lose a spark,” said Chavez.

it’s a calling some say he is specially equipped for,

“Since he has this background, he sees things that we are not able to see, you know,” said Rodriguez.

“It proves the power of God,” said Mendoza.

Despite that past, Johnny says he has no regrets,

“So if you ask me, what would you want to change of your life? I would say nothing. because if i was to tell you that if my parents could be together, that means that i wouldn’t. I would have missed the encounter of Christ.”

Because he knows it was all part of his journey, and God is with him every step of the way.

Black Ethnic Apostolates Represented During Black History Month Mass

The different Black ethnic apostolates of Brooklyn and Queens came together over the weekend to celebrate Black History Month.

The congregation at Immaculate Conception Parish in Jamaica, Queens, holding up flags from countries like Trinidad, Haiti, and Ghana.

Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan was the main celebrant of the Mass, and Father Robert Seay, the former pastor of Our Lady of Charity Church in Brooklyn, was the homilist.

He spoke to Currents News about how he was excited to see the black communities of Brooklyn and Queens coming together.

The Thea Bowman Choir, a group of around 50 singers who sing gospel music in the style of the 20th-century nun, provided the music for the Mass.

Catholic News Headlines for Monday 2/26/2024

Johnny Chavez was involved in a gang and heading down a bad path, until divine intervention stepped in.

More than a hundred people celebrated Black History Month at Immaculate Conception Parish in Jamaica, Queens on Sunday.

We are two weeks into the Lenten Pilgrimage where the faithful in our diocese focus on prayer and fasting.

Schedule of Events and Routes Revealed for Eucharistic Pilgrimage

Some exciting news from the organizers of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, the full routes and schedule of events have been revealed.

Pilgrims from across the country will be traveling 6,500 miles in the 60 days leading up to the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis this July.

They’ll walk one of four different routes from each corner of the country, passing through 65 dioceses including the Diocese of Brooklyn.

Of course, the Eucharist will be with them the whole way.

Currents News spoke with one of the organizers, Tim Glemkowski, about how this first-of-its-kind pilgrimage will strengthen participants’ faith.

Glemkowski also shared that the route starting on the East Coast, in New Haven, Connecticut, may be the most culturally significant.

It is called the Seton Route, after Elizabeth Ann Seton. It will take participants through Manhattan, Ellis Island, and Washington D.C.

It all starts May 18, eight weeks before the highly anticipated Eucharistic Congress.

For more info on that congress, the pilgrimage, and the revival itself just go to eucharisticrevival.org.

Manhattan College Unveils New Study Center, Honoring Servant of God Dorothy Day

A new center in The Bronx now bears the name of a Brooklyn-born Catholic advocate.

Manhattan College opened The Dorothy Day Center for Study and Promotion of Social Catholicism on Thursday, Feb. 22.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan blessed the center, which will be a resource for learning about Catholic social justice teachings and the servant of God who spent her life fighting for the marginalized.

It includes historical artifacts from Dorothy Day, like a note penned to her from Blessed Mother Teresa.

Those in attendance believe having it on a college campus will inspire young people.

The Dorothy Day Guild, the official organization in the Archdiocese of New York to promote Dorothy’s cause for sainthood, will be housed at the center.

Parishes, schools, and the public are welcome to visit the center.

For more information, visit the college’s website at https://manhattan.edu/academics/centers-institutes/dorothy-day-center/index.php.

Catholic News Headlines for Friday 2/23/2024

An exhibit featuring some 100 sacred relics will be on display at a church in Montclair, New Jersey on Saturday Feb. 24.

A new Dorothy Day Center was dedicated at Manhattan College in The Bronx.

We have new information on the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage.

For two years, war has been raging in Ukraine, and Pope Francis has been praying for peace.

Vandalism Hits Manhattan Church Where a Violent Slasher Struck Weeks Earlier

A Manhattan church once again faced criminal activity and damage after a vandal destroyed a statue of Jesus on President’s Day, just weeks after a church worker was slashed across the face by an unknown attacker.

The statue of Jesus inside Immaculate Conception Church was knocked to the ground following an outburst by an unknown individual, causing damage that will cost an estimated thousands of dollars to repair.

According to the NYPD, the individual entered the East Village church on Monday, Feb. 19, and engaged in criminal mischief after being asked to leave around 10:45 a.m. Since it was a federal holiday, Immaculate Conception closed after the 10 a.m. Mass service.

When the outburst occurred, only a few people were remaining in the building, praying the Rosary. A dispute involving the unknown individual and some parishioners inside the church led to the crime, according to the NYPD..

The individual knocked over a bookshelf after being told he had to leave the church. He then toppled the statue of Jesus — located next to the church’s exit — to the ground. Damage to the right side of the statue, alongside its robes, could be seen days after the attack. The entire left hand of the statue was destroyed as well. Church officials said they plan to replace the damaged statue in the future.

The man was reportedly sleeping in the church when he was told it was closing. No one was harmed in the outburst, and the individual fled on foot. As of Feb. 21, no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing according to the NYPD.

Crime in the 9th Precinct, which encompasses Immaculate Conception, is reportedly decreasing. Police data shows an overall 10.45% decrease in crime since last year. Only felony assaults and robberies have had a slight uptick in occurrence. However, local residents contend violent crimes are becoming increasingly common in that area, with the church only a few feet from the First Avenue subway Station.

Furthermore, this is the second outburst involving the church recently, the first being a slashing attack on church caretaker on Jan. 21.

That victim, John Mach, was cut along his left jaw with a box cutter by an assailant after Mach confronted him about urinating between two nearby parked cars. He sustained 16 stitches from his lower jaw to his ear.

To augment local police presence, Immaculate Conception employs additional security for both the inside the church as well as surrounding it. According to the New York Post, an anonymous parish employee said that police are going to “do a lot of extra walking around on 14th Street” in the wake of the incidents.

Crisis In Haiti: Bishop Caught In Explosion, Being Airlifted To Miami

A close friend of the Diocese of Brooklyn is the latest victim of the crisis in Haiti.

Bishop Pierre-Andre Dumas of the diocese of “an-say-vo meerah-gwahn” in Haiti was seriously injured in an explosion last Sunday.

Bishop Dumas, who has visited Brooklyn several times, was visiting the capital of Port-Au-Prince at the time of the blast.

He’s being airlifted Thursday to Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital to undergo treatment for severe burns.

Archbishop Thomas Wenski of the Archdiocese of Miami says they’ll be receiving Bishop Dumas there.

Police are still investigating the cause of the blast, saying it may have been a gas explosion, but Archbishop Wenski said he’s spoken to a few priests in Haiti who are suspicious, and believe it may have been a targeted attack.

Bishop Dumas is in stable condition.

He will stay in Florida for the remainder of his treatment, after which Bishop Wenski believes he’ll return to Haiti because quote “the church needs him.”

Bishop Dumas has been outspoken about the violence and lawlessness happening in the Caribbean country.

The National Correspondent for The Tablet and Crux, John Lavenburg, joins Currents News to talk more about it.

Be sure to stay with The Tablet and Currents News for continuing coverage of this story.

Catholic News Headlines for Thursday 2/22/2024

Bishop Pierre Andre Dumas was caught in an explosion in the country’s capital of Port-Au-Prince on Sunday.

Police in Manhattan are searching for the vandal who caused $4,000 worth of damage at Immaculate Conception Church.

Alabama’s largest hospital has paused in vitro fertilization treatments.

During this black history month, we’ll have the story of how Brooklyn actually played a critical role in the freeing of America’s slaves.