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Sober St. Patrick’s Day: Family-Friendly Celebration Shifts Focus From Drinking to Appreciation of Irish History 

By Currents News and Gina Christian

(OSV News) – An annual celebration of St. Patrick’s Day is looking to recenter the observance on Ireland’s patron saint and the spiritual strength that enabled him to live life fully and freely.

In the U.S., the March 17 feast day has long been an occasion for vaguely themed celebrations of Irish culture, with alcoholic drinks figuring prominently in the mix.

But Bill Reilly, founder of Sober St. Patrick’s Day, has been working to change that for well over a decade.

“At least in New York, and I’m sure this is true virtually everywhere, most people are not celebrating St. Patrick,” Reilly, a former theater and television producer, told The Tablet. “And they’re not really sure why they’re celebrating except to have a good old time. So we really want to stay focused on who it is we’re celebrating.”

Now in its 14th year, the 2025 Sober St. Patrick’s Day gathering, which follows New York City’s iconic parade in honor of the saint, will take place March 17 at the Church of Our Saviour in the city’s Murray Hill neighborhood, part of the Archdiocese of New York.

The entertainment lineup includes two all-Ireland champion musicians – fiddler Brian Conway and button accordionist John Whelan – as well as awarding-winning pipers, dancers and other entertainers.

Tickets are available at soberstpatricksday.org, where participants can also register to march in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade with the nonprofit’s contingent. The website also features resources for establishing additional “Sober St. Patrick’s Day” celebrations.

Back in 2011, Reilly was inspired to create an alcohol-free, family-friendly St. Patrick’s Day bash that would highlight the best of Irish musical and dance performance, while pointing revelers to the fifth-century saint, who came to be known as the apostle of Ireland.

Born in Britain to a Romanized family, Patrick was captured at age 16 by Irish raiders and spent six years as a slave. During that time, he developed a profound prayer life, and following his escape and reunion with his family, he eventually returned to Ireland to evangelize its people.

Last year, Reilly told The Tablet that St. Patrick’s “Confession” – which along with the “Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus” can be definitively attributed to the saint – had a “great effect” on him.

Reilly’s website features a number of resources – among them, two three-minute videos – for learning more about St. Patrick and of another patron of Ireland, St. Brigid, who is believed to have been a fifth-century abbess.

Reaction to the videos “has been extraordinary,” with many struck by the saint’s ability to ultimately forgive his captors and serve those in the land of his exile and slavery, said Reilly.

“I think the video has gotten such attention … because it’s landed in a place where people who thought they knew a lot about Patrick didn’t take into account that aspect of his evangelizing and of his life, and of his transformative power,” Reilly said.

The video has “allowed people to think differently about the dangers of not forgiving, seeing what he did,” said Reilly. “It wasn’t just like he forgave his brother because he had an argument. He forgave people who enslaved him for six years. That’s big time stuff. And then as a result of that, I believe very strongly that’s how Ireland got converted.”

Another aspect of the saint’s legacy that Reilly’s celebration highlights is the bond among generations.

“It’s the notion of the communal,” he explained. “What we’re trying to do, and I think what we’ve done pretty well so far, is allow people to realize that it’s really about the interrelationship among human beings. And in the case of St. Patrick’s Day, we do that using the depth of Irish culture, because I don’t think any nationality has a more intergenerational form of art and music and dance.”

For example, he said, traditional Irish music “is the kind of thing where a 6-year-old can be dancing with a 96-year-old.”

In fact, said Reilly, there’s an Irish word that captures such conviviality: craic (pronounced “crack”).

“That sense of great craic and that sense of great community is really at the core of what happens at our event,” he said.

To learn more, go to soberstpatricksday.org/events.

NYPD Holy Name Society Honors Fallen Hero for Faith and Sacrifice

By Currents News and Mike Rizzzo

QUEENS VILLAGE — Almost a year to the date of his line of duty death, Det. Jonathan Diller’s widow, Stephanie, sat in Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Queens Village on March 9 for the annual NYPD Brooklyn-Queens Holy Name Society Mass. It was there, with a congregation of hundreds of NYPD uniformed officers, that she rose to a standing ovation to accept the society’s Sgt. Paul Hargrove Award in her husband’s honor and a $1,000 donation to the scholarship fund she’s established in Det. Diller’s name.

The award pays tribute to “extraordinary heroism,” Sgt. Michael Ciota, the society’s president, said in introducing Stephanie. In accepting the award and speaking to those in the church, Diller called her husband and Sgt. Hargrove “two shining lights for all” as men of faith, family, and dedication to their work in the NYPD. The Mass preceded the society’s annual Communion breakfast at nearby Antun’s Catering Hall. The Sgt. Paul Hargrove Award was instituted in 2024 and named for the NYPD veteran and longtime society member. Sgt. Hargrove posthumously received the honor last year after he succumbed to cancer on March 8, just days before that year’s breakfast. Det. Diller was killed 17 days later.

Although Diller never met Sgt. Hargrove, she feels a connection to him. “I understand he was a wonderful person,” she said just before the Mass began. “They both passed in March, and in a way, I feel like Paul probably welcomed Jonathan.” She is grateful for the support she receives from organizations like the Holy Name Society. “I was talking with Paul’s wife just before this,” she said. “People don’t realize how much it means to us to keep remembering our husbands, keep talking about them, to keep supporting us, to keep showing up. That is the best way to honor our husbands. It’s the spirit of our husbands living on.”

The society members’ connection as a family came up in speeches at the breakfast and in an interview, also conducted before the Mass began, with Msgr. Robert Romano, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Bensonhurst, the assistant chief of NYPD chaplain, and the society’s spiritual director. “Family of blood and family of blue,” he said, adding that the Holy Name Society is the bond between both. “These are Catholic police officers who live their faith.”

Sgt. Hargrove’s son Paul was among the Hargrove family members at the Mass and breakfast. “I think Jonathan exemplified what a true police officer was, which is what my father stood for,” he said. “As the first awardee after my father’s passing, it’s a tremendous honor for it to be Jonathan. I think if we continue to have people speak the way that Stephanie did about the importance of being Catholic and the connection to religion and the job, I think that’s very important.”

As Stephanie Diller looks to the future, she spoke of focusing on her young son Ryan, rooting her life in her faith, and doing for others. “Whenever I am in church, I always feel more connected to Jonathan. It’s just that extra layer of feeling like he’s with me,” she said. “Remembering him and living a life that he’s proud of, that honors him, that keeps his spirit in it, that’s really what I want to keep doing.”

“Helping people when I can, using the voice that I’ve unfortunately been given to help other families in a way that I know that Jonathan would want is basically how I’m going about things now,” she added.

Catholic News Headlines for Tuesday 3/11/2025

They may not be in Rome, but students in the Diocese of Brooklyn are supporting the Holy Father through his recovery in their own special way.

March 11 marks an important anniversary in the vocation journey of the Pope: 67 years ago he entered the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits.

The NYPD’s Holy Name Society gathered for Mass in Queens where they also honored fallen detective Jonathan Diller.

Diocese of Brooklyn Students Offer Prayers and Well Wishes for Pope Francis

By Katie Vasquez

Students in the Diocese of Brooklyn are putting pencil to paper to send their prayers to Rome, with love.

It’s part of a diocese-wide effort by the children of Brooklyn and Queens, to help an ailing Pope Francis. 

St. Joseph Catholic Academy in Long Island City, Queens created get well cards.

“Everyone loves him. He inspires us to do good things,” Anthony Primiani, a 6th grader at the school, tells Currents News. “He dedicated his life to God, Jesus.”

“I said that I would dedicate my evening prayers to him every night, until he gets better. I also pray in the lunchroom for him and in the morning we also pray for him,” classmate Nola Lafield says of the school’s efforts to support the Holy Father from afar. 

Students are banding together to help the pope at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Academy in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn as well, where a wall is covered in well wishes from students in every grade.

“Pope Francis is sick and we’re going to pray for him, for him to get better,” Sophia Johnson, a 2nd grader at the Catholic academy says of her school’s part in the initiative. 

At Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Academy in Floral Park, Queens, their prayers for the pontiff are proudly displayed in the school’s windows.

“I pray that Pope Francis could get better and better every single day,”  Eliannie Caicedo, a 4th grader at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Academy, adds.

With 40 plus languages spoken in the Diocese of Immigrants, these students are not only offering comfort in English, but in several other languages as well.

As the students watch him progress, they feel God is answering their calls. 

“I truly believe these prayers have been helping. And… it’s everyone’s work, because he’s been praying for us,”  Olivia Bekan, a 6th grader at St Joseph Catholic Academy, explains.  “We should be now giving our work back to him.”

“I feel like we’re helping, all these prayers. We’re sending them to God. And then He’s helping heal, in certain ways, through the prayer,” Camille Quezada, an 8th grader at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Academy, tells Currents NEws.

These students will keep praying that the Holy Father will get better soon.

Catholic News Headlines for Monday 3/10/2025

The Rite of Election is bringing hundreds of people in Brooklyn and Queens closer to becoming Catholic.

Pope Francis is no longer considered to be in imminent danger from his lung infection according to the Vatican, but he will be continuing his hospital stay in order to recuperate.

Parishioners in the Diocese of Brooklyn are continuing their Lenten pilgrimage with Mass, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the stations of the cross, and confession.

Bishop Brennan Shares Importance of Lent During Q&A With Catholic Youth

By Currents News  

Young people who wanted to learn more about Lent got a lesson from Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan on the evening of March 8. 

The Brooklyn shepherd sat down with dozens from the Shalom Catholic Community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn for a Q&A about the season leading up to Easter. 

Two members of the missionary group asked the bishop everything the group members wanted to know about Lent, including its biblical significance.

The night that began with prayer and song ended in a group meal, which was a fundraiser for Shalom’s upcoming mission trip to Madagascar this summer.

Becoming Catholic in the Diocese of Brooklyn: Newly Elected Shares Her Faith Journey

By Currents News and Paula Katinas

Almost 700 soon-to-be Catholics from Brooklyn and Queens took a big step in their faith journey by taking part in the Rite of Election on Sunday, March 9 — a time-honored tradition that takes place annually on the first Sunday of Lent. The Rite of Election signifies that those who are to be baptized — called catechumens — have been chosen, or elected, by the Church. Amanda Dennison, who is among the newly elected, will not only be undergoing the Sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil at Blessed Sacrament Church in East Elmhurst on Holy Saturday, but she will return to the church a week later to get married.

Dennison and her husband, Jonathan Guaman, were married in a civil ceremony last year and are looking forward to their church wedding. Guaman, a lifelong Catholic, and Dennison met while attending Flushing High School.

Dennison is in the unique position of taking pre-Cana marriage prep classes at Blessed Sacrament while also taking part in the Order of Christian Initiation for Adults program.

Calling her husband “my best friend,” Dennison said he has been a pillar of support as she prepares for the baptism, holy Eucharist, and Confirmation.

“I can’t imagine, to be honest, doing this without him. He’s really been there for me through everything, supporting me, talking me through things, encouraging me, praying for me,” she said. “I’m so grateful to God that he put him in my life because I feel like God really knew who I needed and he matched us up in that way.”

The Dennisons plan to “put God at the center of our marriage,” she added.

Dennison said she is also joining the Catholic Church to fulfill her spiritual needs. She grew up in a Pentecostal household with parents who were Sunday school teachers.

“I had a really strong foundation, but as I got older, I had Catholic friends and I would get invited to different sacraments for confirmation and things like that. So as an adult, I started to question my tradition,” she said, noting what the Catholic faith offers.

“Compared to my Pentecostal background, the faith is there, but we are missing pieces. So for me, coming into Catholicism, it was like I had a puzzle and pieces were missing,” she added. “But then once I started to understand the Catholic faith, I was able to take the puzzles that I had with the missing pieces and use the knowledge that I had from Catholicism to fit in all those missing pieces.”

“That is the reason why I would love to become Catholic,” she continued, “because I really want to fulfill God’s will for my life and the purpose and the plan that he has for my life.”

Pope Follows Lenten Retreat From Hospital; His Condition Remains Stable

By Currents News and Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – As Pope Francis’ condition remains stable, which is a sign of continued improvement, he followed the start of the Lenten retreat for the Roman Curia by video linkup and met again with two top Vatican officials to stay abreast of current events, the Vatican press office said.

The pope also participated in Mass in the morning March 9, the first Sunday of Lent, in the chapel that is part of the suite of rooms reserved for the popes on the 10th floor of Rome’s Gemelli hospital, it said.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, and Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the substitute for general affairs in the secretariat, visited the pope at the hospital March 9 “and, among other things, updated him on some situations in the church and the world,” the press office said.

It was the third visit by the two officials since the 88-year-old pope was hospitalized Feb. 14.

Pope Francis had said he would be joining spiritually with those participating in the retreat in the Paul VI Audience Hall March 9-14. But the Vatican press office said he was able to follow the spiritual exercises from the hospital by video. The meditations are being led by Capuchin Father Roberto Pasolini, the new preacher of the papal household, and reflect on the theme, “The hope of eternal life.”

The pope, who has been diagnosed with double pneumonia and other respiratory difficulties, is continuing his prescribed therapies, including breathing exercises and physical therapy, the press office said. He also continues to use noninvasive mechanical ventilation with a mask at night and high-flow oxygen through a nasal tube during the day.

The pope’s doctors released no official medical bulletin given that his lab tests and condition continue to remain stable. The press office said his condition remains unchanged from March 8, and that this stability is in itself a sign of improvement. His overall “clinical picture remains complex,” it added.

Doctors said March 8 that the pope’s continued “gradual, slight improvement” is a sign that he is responding to the therapy he is receiving. The pope has remained without a fever “at all times,” and his oxygen levels “have improved,” the doctors had said in the medical bulletin released by the Vatican.

The March 8 bulletin was the first time the doctors spoke of “a good response to therapy.”

However, the bulletin said, the doctors are “prudently” still saying that Pope Francis’ prognosis is “guarded” as they await further improvements.

While he has been hospitalized, top members of the Roman Curia have been presiding in his stead over the Jubilee Masses that had been scheduled since last year.

Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, presided over the Mass concluding the Jubilee of the World of Volunteering in St. Peter’s Square March 9 and read the homily prepared by Pope Francis.

The Vatican press office also published a written message the pope had prepared for the midday Angelus.

In that message, he said that during his “prolonged hospitalization here, I too experience the thoughtfulness of service and the tenderness of care, in particular from the doctors and healthcare workers, whom I thank from the bottom of my heart.”

His text said he thinks of the many people who accompany and assist those who are ill “and who are for them a sign of the Lord’s presence. We need this, the ‘miracle of tenderness,’ which accompanies those who are in adversity, bringing a little light into the night of pain.”

The pope thanked “all those who are showing their closeness to me in prayer: heartfelt thanks to you all! I pray for you too.”

Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, was scheduled to lead the rosary for Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square at 9 p.m. Rome time March 9.

The daily rosary will be recited as part of the Lenten retreat of the Roman Curia March 10-13. It will still be broadcast online and shown on the big screens in St. Peter’s Square, but will start around 6 p.m. local time, right after the evening vespers and reflection at the retreat.

The rosary service “will resume in a renewed manner” on the last day of the retreat, March 14, to remain “a sign of faith and ecclesial communion,” the press office said.

Queens Rite of Election Sees Hundreds of Catechumens Move Closer to Becoming Catholic

By Jessica Easthope

There was standing room only on Sunday March 9 Sunday, at Immaculate Conception Church in Jamaica Estates, Queens.

“It’s almost a sense of being overwhelmed. I mean, in a good way,” said Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan of the group gathered there.

One-by-one, he greeted more than 430 men and women and their godparents as they made their way up to the altar during the Queens Rite of Election.

“For many of us, we were born into our faith. And it just seems so natural. But it stops us in our tracks when somebody says, ‘Yeah, this is I believe, what you believe.’ And that inspires all of us,” Bishop Brennan told Currents News.

Arnold Pryor, a parishioner at Incarnation – St. Gerard Majella Parish in Queens Village was inspired by his wife, Wendy and their two daughters, who were born Catholic. Now he’s one step closer to joining them in participating fully in the Mass.

“I feel lighter,  freer,” he said. “It’s one, for my own journey and own personal relationship. But it’s also to strengthen my family as well.”

The catechumens, now called “the elect,” have participated in the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults or OCIA for the last two years, and will be baptized and receive the sacraments of communion and confirmation during the Easter Vigil.

“They are so looking forward to the first time they can come to the table for the Eucharist,” said Fr. Joseph Gibino, the Diocese of Brooklyn’s vicar for evangelization and catechesis.

Fr. Gibino says this old tradition gets richer every year, but just how far does it date back?

“To the beginning,” Fr. Gibino said. “ When we read the Acts of the Apostles, what the community did was gathered together to pray for those who were preparing for the Easter Vigil. And we’ve encouraged a longer process to really allow people to come to the encounter with Christ.”

And encounter they have, for Dan Dan Tien, a parishioner at St. Michael’s Church in Flushing, Christ is pure joy.

“Sometimes I feel lonely and helpless,” she said. “But right now I feel God with me.”