Amazing jazz music and seafood is probably what comes to mind when you think about New Orleans or Mardi Gras.
But one aspect you may not be aware of, is 103-year-old Mary Muniz.
Muniz has reveled at the Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans for decades.
Now she’s celebrated at the parade as well.
Funeral arrangements have been announced for the late Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell.
Joe Biden will take part in a virtual meeting with G-7 leaders and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the one year anniversary of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine.
Some residents in East Palestine, Ohio say they’re worried that they’re slowly being poisoned after the toxic train derailment that occurred earlier this month.
Parishioners in the Diocese of Brooklyn have begun a journey of faith they embarked on a Lenten Pilgrimage on Ash Wednesday.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago, the Catholic Church and other Catholic groups stepped in, not only offering their prayers but humanitarian aid as well.
One of those groups, the charity, Caritas International, has been at the forefront in assisting Ukrainians who have been affected by the war.
Following the invasion, the group pledged more than 100 million euros for humanitarian assistance in Ukraine and 35 million euros in neighboring countries.
One year later, Caritas have provided aid to over 5 million people.
Hundreds of thousands of Russian citizens have fled the country trying to avoid military conscription.
Some have journeyed all the way to North America, seeking asylum in the United States.
According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection figures, the number of Russians who crossed the southern U.S. border last fiscal year, when the Ukraine invasion started, grew by more than 430 percent compared with the year before.
As many as 700 Russians could be waiting in Mexico to enter the U.S. illegally.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visits East Palestine, Ohio on Thursday after facing criticism for not going sooner.
Police are searching for answers in Orlando, Florida, after a gunman killed five people including a child and tv news reporter.
EBT cardholders filed a lawsuit against the USDA over $730,000 in stolen benefits.
FDNY wants to increase the cost of ambulance rides by more than 50%.
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — Now about two weeks removed from witnessing billowing black smoke from a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, the pastor of the town’s lone Catholic church fears the fallout could accelerate the decline of an already small and aging community.
“It very well could,” Father David Misbrener, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes in East Palestine, told The Tablet. “Myself, no, I’m not afraid to go to the church and go to people’s homes, but our concern, and the residents’ concern, will be the future. What’s going to happen?”
Father Misbrener is pastor of both Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Jude’s Catholic Church in nearby Columbiana. He lives at the latter, and that’s where he was at the time of the Feb. 3 train derailment. After finding out what happened the next morning, he said he drove to Our Lady of Lourdes — only about a quarter of a mile from the incident — where he saw the smoke and smelled chemicals in the air.
Residents in a one-to-two-mile radius of the crash were ordered to evacuate on Feb. 6, when officials carried out a controlled burn of vinyl chloride, a gas used to make plastic, that was carried in five of the derailed cars. In all, 50 cars were damaged, 11 of which contained hazardous materials, including the five that carried vinyl chloride. Evacuated residents were allowed to return home on Feb. 8.
Still, many in the town of fewer than 5,000 people remain uneasy about the safety of the town’s air, water, and soil. Father Misbrener said the Our Lady of Lourdes church hall has become a distribution center, especially for bottled water, but also food, diapers, and even clothes for anyone who needs them.
Father Misbrener added that tests of the church’s water and air both came back “OK.”
“But you know, you have to take that at face value or trust value,” Father Misbrener said. “Whether or not the water’s OK, hopefully, we can trust our government officials. I don’t know.”
East Palestine residents sought answers from local, state, and federal officials on the safety of the town’s air and water at a Feb. 16 town hall held at the local high school. Frustrated residents reportedly voiced their concerns and frustrations about the incident in addition to seeking answers.
Residents were cleared to drink village water on Feb. 15, according to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. Reports indicate officials reassured residents that the water was safe to drink at the town hall and further reassured them that even if a bad smell persists, that doesn’t mean the air isn’t safe.
Norfolk Southern Corporation, which owns the trains that derailed, angered residents when its representatives did not show up at the town hall. The next morning, Feb. 16, the company’s CEO Alan Shaw published a letter to the East Palestine community with a pledge to “help make things right.”
Shaw wrote that crews are currently cleaning the crash site “thoroughly, responsibly, and safely.” He said that the company has also implemented a comprehensive water, air, and soil testing program and has established a $1 million community support fund “as a down payment on our commitment to rebuild.
“My simple answer is that we are here and will stay here for as long as it takes to ensure your safety and to help East Palestine recover and thrive,” Shaw said, later adding that “we will not let you down.”
The U.S. EPA administrator, Michael Regan, also visited East Palestine on Feb. 16.
Norfolk Southern Corporation didn’t respond to The Tablet’s request for comment, and the Environmental Protection Agency declined to comment. A spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board referred The Tablet to a Feb. 14 press release, noting that “it is still very early into the investigation, and that is the information available at this time.”
Father Misbrener said the Our Lady of Lourdes community celebrated Mass this past weekend after it was canceled the weekend before because of the evacuation. He said the parishioners he spoke to weren’t overly concerned with the situation but acknowledged “as more and more of this is coming out, we have to weigh what the scientists and others are saying.”
The pastor’s main focus in the immediate future is the spiritual well-being of his parishioners, who he said are predominantly senior citizens on fixed incomes. The church has about 180 active households.
“I’m no scientist. I’m the parish priest. I’ve got to just take care of the spiritual aspect, my parishioners,” Father Misbrener said. “I just want to be there for my people as far as their spiritual needs are concerned.”
Bishop David Bonnar of Youngstown is scheduled to visit Our Lady of Lourdes and celebrate Mass in a few weeks. For now, Father Misbrener said he hopes people won’t forget about East Palestine.
“The outreach right now has been very, very generous, and I just hope that people aren’t going to forget that. Hopefully, they’ll be able to get this mess cleaned, and I just pray that there aren’t residual effects for years to come. You never know,” Father Misbrener said.
By Bill Miller and Jessica Easthope
DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — People from across the Diocese of Brooklyn came to Cathedral Basilica of St. James on Wednesday to receive ashes and to help launch a new Lenten journey that beckons Catholics back to the Church.
Bishop Robert Brennan officially began the 2023 Lenten Pilgrimage by celebrating the cathedral’s noon Mass. He distributed ashes with Father Bryan Patterson, rector of the cathedral. The bishop also stayed later for Eucharistic Adoration with some of the Mass attendees.
But there was more: “Pilgrims” also received their “passports” for the 40-day Diocesan Lenten Pilgrimage. The pilgrimage invites people to visit a different parish each day, except Sundays, during Lent. Forty-two parishes are designated for specific days on the itinerary, although five of the days have two parishes as options.
At each stop, pilgrims can attend Mass, receive reconciliation, or engage in Eucharistic Adoration. They can also have their passports affixed with the “stamp” of that parish. Securing 20 or more stamps qualifies the passport holder for a special certificate signed by Bishop Brennan.
Laura Taylor, a 20-year member of the cathedral’s parish, said she hoped younger congregants would join her on the pilgrimage and perhaps receive a newfound joy.
“Fewer people are coming to church, which makes me sad,” Taylor said. “But there’s such a feeling of love and warmth when you go to church. You’re enclosed in God’s arms, and you feel safe. And you feel like you’re home, or what a home should be.”
“I have two hopes,” Bishop Brennan said before the Mass. “One of them is that this is part of the Eucharistic Revival — there’s certainly that hope for us to rediscover and reinvigorate our faith in the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.”
He said that will happen “through our prayers of adoration, visiting the churches, and being in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. We will renew that deep love of Jesus who is present to us in the Eucharist.”
His second hope is that pilgrims will experience the joy as “we walk this journey together.”
He added, “This is really a reminder of the fact that Christ is present in our city, here in Brooklyn and in Queens. So together we walk with one another, but all of us together are walking with Jesus.”
Father Joseph Gibino, the Diocese of Brooklyn’s vicar for evangelization and catechesis, concelebrated the Mass with Bishop Brennan and Father Patterson.
Earlier, he explained that the pilgrimage is a direct result of the synod, during which Catholics in the diocese asked for greater collaboration between deaneries, their deans, and parishes. He also noted that the journey connects with the national Eucharistic Revival.
“Our adoration pilgrimage for the Lenten season is a reflection of everything we’ve heard at the synod,” Father Gibino said. “And that makes it even more dynamic because Pope Francis hopes that the synodal experience of being one Church, journeying together, will take hold.
“And here we are, as a diocese, literally journeying through the Lenten season, from church to church to church. It’s really exciting.”
The pilgrimage will also address other synod goals, such as more of an emphasis on youth and young adults and adult faith formation.
Andy Marte, a catechist at St. Barbara Parish in Bushwick, received ashes and got his passport stamped at the cathedral, and he is excited about getting at least 20 stamps this Lent.
“I was thinking about doing something similar with the students that I teach,” Marte said. “This is an awesome experience to go through it myself first. I have about 20 students, and their generation is really hungry to get involved in community. I think that’s what the Church offers.
“So, I’m really excited about being a part of this journey,” Marte added. “And I’m even more excited to start posting online the different experiences at each church and their different histories and architecture.”
Diane DeBernardo, a parishioner at Immaculate Heart of Mary, Windsor Terrace, said she is also excited to visit other churches and worship in them.
“I saw the article in The Tablet this past week about this pilgrimage and I was pretty excited about the chance to visit the churches throughout Brooklyn and Queens,” she said after the Mass. “And there are so many beautiful ones to see, and different neighborhoods.”
Samuel Romanzo, chairman for the Catholic Foundation for Brooklyn and Queens, is a member of St. Robert Bellarmine Parish in Bayside. He described how he typically attends Ash Wednesday services near the office where he works in Manhattan.
But, he noted, starting this year’s Lenten pilgrimage with Bishop Brennan at the cathedral was a great opportunity.
“This is a great opportunity to remind ourselves that it is a welcoming place,” Romanzo said. “It’s a place where God is.
“And at the same time, the parishes have been selected by their deans, so they have to do some preparation. And they’ll come together as well to create a welcoming environment. I think the whole thing is just fantastic.”
Father Gibino said plans for the pilgrimage began last fall following “a casual conversation” with Bishop Brennan in which the bishop described a similar program he experienced in 2020 while serving as the bishop for Columbus, Ohio.
Bishop Brennan said that pilgrimage was called “40 Days of Adoration” with a goal to help bring Ohio Catholics back to Mass following the pandemic.
Back in Brooklyn, diocese officials saw an opportunity to create a unique Lenten opportunity that aligns with the synod and the Eucharistic Revival, Father Gibino said.
Carving out time for the pilgrimage is a major commitment involving some strategizing to navigate transportation throughout the diocese, Bishop Brennan said.
More information can be found online at dioceseofbrooklyn.org/LentenPilgrimage.
Bishop Robert Brennan is celebrating Mass throughout the Diocese of Brooklyn on Ash Wednesday – kicking off the Lenten Pilgrimage.
Pope Francis reflects on the war in Ukraine as the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion approaches on Friday.
A health clinic is opening at the First Church of Christ in East Palestine, Ohio to examine those who say they’re experiencing adverse effects from the train derailment and toxic chemical spillage earlier this month.
A first generation 2007 iPhone sold for more than $63,000 dollars in an online auction Sunday.
In Turkey, people are picking up their lives for a different reason.
Anger is starting to set in as people are beginning to ask how so many new buildings were able to collapse from that horrific earthquake.
The government has launched investigations across the earthquake zone and has so far rounded up dozens of building contractors.
But many say it’s not just the contractors who are to blame.
“This is a systemic problem,” Koray Tanin, Iskenderun branch head of The Chamber of Architects, said. “This is a complex problem of the system. Not an individual one.”
The country’s chamber of architects says a construction boom, lacks inspections by authorities, and government amnesties for developers who didn’t abide by building codes introduced after previous disasters – all contributed to this catastrophe.
Police are trying to figure out the motive behind the murder of California Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell.
President Joe Biden visited Poland on Tuesday and thanked them for their support of Ukraine
A magnitude 6.3 aftershock hit southern Turkey Monday, killing at least six people and injuring hundreds more.
103-year-old Mary Muniz has been attending the Mardi Gras parades for decades.