Bishop Robert Brennan celebrated the Lunar New Year on Sunday, Feb. 11.
The bilingual Mass at St. Michael’s Church in Flushing helped kick off the Year of the Dragon, which symbolizes strength, power, good fortune, and success.
Following the liturgy, Bishop Brennan joined the community in an ancestor veneration ritual, where the congregation gives thanks to God and their ancestors. It includes bowing to God nine times and offering fruits, flowers, and incense.
Bishop Brennan also gave out red envelopes with money inside, which symbolizes good luck.
The National Eucharistic Congress, a big event in the Catholic community happening in July, has become more accessible.
The U.S. bishops conference has announced the “Solidarity Fund,” which will cover registration costs of the five-day event in Indianapolis for those in need.
The scholarship does not cover the cost of transportation, housing, or meals.
The bishops have already raised nearly $1 million for the fund, and they are accepting donations.
If you’d like to attend the congress in Indianapolis this summer, and you want to apply for the solidarity fund, just go to eucharisticrevival.org for more information.
By Jessica Easthope
It might be one of the newest apps available, but its impact could last a lifetime.
The Diocese of Brooklyn’s Lenten Pilgrimage app is moving parishioners down a path toward the future of faith.
“We’re going to have the digital passport, which is going to give everybody the opportunity to download the app,” said Father Joseph Gibino, the vicar for evangelization and catechesis. “It can be a global experience.”
Father Gibino said the goal of the app isn’t downloads and clicks, but to become a tool for engaging with the Lenten season.
“Some people have the advantage of being able to literally walk the journey of the pilgrimage by visiting the station, churches, others, especially the younger members of our community who are still working, who still have jobs will now have the opportunity to digitally make the pilgrimage,” Father Gibino said.
The app, which is free of charge and available for download on iPhones and Androids, was developed by DeSales Media Group, the communications and technology arm of the Diocese of Brooklyn that operates Currents News and The Tablet.
It allows you to get direct updates about the Lenten Pilgrimage and set goals and milestones as you pound the pavement to more than 35 churches across Brooklyn and Queens. Visits will be automatically tracked using QR codes posted at each church.
“We will be creating a community of intentional disciples through the app,” Father Gibino said. “So even though one might not physically be able to get everywhere, one can login, ask for prayers, join in the experience, and this is just step one of our digital growth.”
Plus, there’s a built-in prayer community. Users can post special intentions asking for prayers on the app that has a potentially global reach.
“We all know that real physical presence is the best, but this is a way for people to share, and to know that we can pray together and experience each other’s growth in the Lord through all these different means,” Father Gibino said.
This year’s pilgrimage is dedicated to Sister Maryann Ambrose who Father Gibino said exemplified Lenten sacrifice and made it to every single church on the pilgrimage last year.
“She was such a driving force last year, making every one of the pilgrimage sites. She drove other pilgrims to the churches,” Father Gibino said. “She talked about it, she wrote about it, and she just became one of the human faces of the pilgrimage.”
It’s the start of the Lenten season for Catholics and the start of a Lenten Pilgrimage in the Diocese of Brooklyn.
But this year, the diocese is unveiling an app to guide Catholics on their journey.
You can download that Lenten Pilgrimage app now, just search “Lenten Pilgrimage” in the App or Google Play store, and you can prepare for your journey across Brooklyn and Queens.
It’s the start of the Lenten season for Catholics and the start of a Lenten Pilgrimage in the Diocese of Brooklyn.
Bishop Robert Brennan celebrated the lunar new year yesterday at St. Michael’s Church in Flushing.
The U.S. bishops have unveiled a “solidarity fund,” which will provide financial aid to those in need.
It’s time for two bishops to settle their Super Bowl bet.
Super Bowl Sunday is just two days away and Catholic Charities in both Kansas City and San Francisco are getting in on the fun.
On a more serious note, one non profit is highlighting the correlation between major events like the super bowl and an increase in human trafficking.
Bishops in the U-S are backing a human trafficking prevention bill that’s being considered on Capitol Hill.
A senior living facility in Kentucky is hoping to be flooded with valentines next week.
The Senate’s border spending package failed to pass on Wednesday Feb. 7, but that could pave the way for a bishop-backed bill.
The original package contained international humanitarian aid and border provisions that the bishops said would cause “potentially life-threatening harm.”
The revised version only contains humanitarian aid, which the bishops do support.
The National Correspondent for The Tablet and Crux, John Lavenburg, joins Currents News to talk more about the two bills.
By Katie Vasquez
At Holy Family Church in Canarsie, their Sunday prayers come with a joyful noise.
“I couldn’t imagine praising God without singing to him first,” Julie Augustin, a choir member at Holy Family said.
But if their hymns sound different, it’s because they are also looking to their cultural roots during their praise.
The songs are from a book called “Lead Me, Guide Me,” which celebrates the faith journey of African American Catholics.
“I find that song can really connect us,” Augustin said. “The common parishioner can play a part praising God and letting the spirit move within us. That’s what their purpose is.”
The music incorporates different African and Caribbean styles and even some traditions from Pentecostal and Baptist churches.
“It’s like it resonates in my soul,” said Everett Wilson, director of music at Holy Family Church. “And you know then I found out it came from other denominations, other traditions. and I never thought of it as an African American thing; it just feels right.”
Wilson brought the songs to the Brooklyn church when he joined as the director of music 17 years ago.
He hoped it would spark the same joy he felt when he first heard them at 13 years old.
“It was kind of amazing to me, and then the music sounded more like gospel and not traditional, this was like blowing my mind and I think that’s why I fell in love with the book so much,” WIlson said.
Each beat connects the congregation with their culture, Christ, and their Church.
“The fact that the congregation sings with me, I see them swaying because everybody knows that song,” Wilson said. “It just really elates me that the whole church is praising God together.”
The choir is looking to the past, so they can carry on these traditions to the future.
Visitation Monastery in Bay Ridge is closing. The Brooklyn Visitation Sisters will also be ending their sponsorship of Visitation Academy.
A revised federal spending package now being pushed only contains international humanitarian aid that bishops support.
Holy family church in Canarsie is taking their hymns from the book “Lead Me, Guide Me”.
Churches across the diocese, including the Co-Cathedral Of St. Joseph in Prospect Heights, are preparing for the first day of Lent.
His flag says eat my flesh and drink my blood.
Jimmy Coleman carried it as he ran 50 miles for what he called his “Adoration Ultra Marathon.”
The Catholic father from North Carolina joined Currents News to talk about why he’s sprinting toward deeper love of the Eucharist.