Row after row of uniformed officers came to St. Patrick’s Cathedral Saturday to honor the one-year anniversary of the loss of NYPD officers Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora.
Family, friends, and co-workers gathered for Mass Saturday for the two officers who were shot and killed responding to a domestic violence call in Harlem last January.
The main celebrant of the Mass was Brooklyn priest and NYPD chaplain, Monsignor Robert Romano, who was also joined by other NYPD chaplains.
In the Diocese of Brooklyn, the pro-life fight continued after the march with the annual Pro Vita Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of St. James.
The liturgy was meant to celebrate the gift of human life and was sponsored by the Knights of Columbus and the Diocese of Brooklyn.
Bishop Robert Brennan was the main celebrant, and during his homily he celebrated this first year following the fall of Roe v Wade but reminded the pro-lifers present that there is still more to do.
National correspondent for The Tablet and Crux, John Lavenburg, was in Washington, D.C. for the March for Life 2023. John spoke with many veteran marchers who said they never thought Roe would be overturned. Younger Catholics showed up in droves to the march and say their generation intends to stand and advocate for pregnant mothers everywhere.
By John Lavenburg
WASHINGTON — Deacon John Cantirino and Denise Collins both remember the decades before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, when it seemed like the landmark 1973 decision was here to stay.
“I was trapped in this mindset that because of Roe v. Wade, nothing would ever change,” said Collins, a parishioner from Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Windsor Terrace.
Deacon John, also from Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, added that many believed Roe was “the law of the land.”
Collins and Deacon John traveled to the 2023 March for Life on one of five buses, carrying around 250 people from Brooklyn and Queens, according to the diocese.
Given their mindset and the nearly 50 years of advocacy that preceded the Supreme Court’s decision, there was optimism and celebration from the pro-life movement once it came down, understandably so. Seven months later, however, the challenges associated with a post-Roe U.S. — where the state legislatures control abortion law — have been realized nationwide.
Instead of the fetal viability standard set by Roe — the point that a baby can survive outside of the womb approximately 24 weeks into a pregnancy — abortion law from state to state now ranges from all-out bans on the procedure to allowance of the procedure throughout a pregnancy.
“I think advocacy now is actually a bit more challenging because we have to make people think about something no one was really thinking about,” Collins said. “It was kind of out of peoples’ hands.”
There are few places where pro-life advocacy is more difficult than New York, where the state and lawmakers are overwhelmingly pro-abortion. That reality is part of why Diocese of Brooklyn Catholics found it important to participate in the first post-Roe March for Life. They wanted to stand in solidarity with the national pro-life movement but also send a message back home.
“There’s a mentality in New York that everybody has to be pro-abortion, and if you’re not, somehow you’re almost a second-class citizen,” Deacon John said. “But I think there’s a lot of people who are pro-life, but they’re afraid to speak out because there’s tremendous social and political pressure to keep quiet.”
Bishop Robert Brennan, who was present at the march and the National Prayer Vigil for Life at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception the night before, acknowledged that while it’s a good thing that the Supreme Court shifted the abortion conversation to the states, “we also know that the reality in New York is very far from that culture of life.”
Abortion in New York is legal through 24 weeks of pregnancy and after 24 weeks if the patient’s “health or pregnancy is at risk.” However, pro-life advocates, including the state’s Catholic bishops, have argued that there really aren’t any restrictions on late-term abortions because of its broad language.
Under Governor Kathy Hochul, New York has also become an “abortion sanctuary” for people from outside the state. The restrictions on who can provide an abortion in the state are also looser than in others, and the procedure is available via both medication and in-clinic.
New York City, in particular, became the first city in the country this week to offer abortion pills free of charge at a city health clinic — the first step of a $1.2 million package to expand reproductive care in the Big Apple. The clinic is located in the Bronx and is the first of four that will offer the pills before the end of the year. The other three clinics will be in Queens, Manhattan, and Brooklyn.
Before the move, abortion pills were already available in the city’s 11 Health+Hospital locations.
“The system needs to change. We must do better, and we will do better,” Mayor Eric Adams said at a news conference announcing the plan. “For New York City to truly lead the nation, we must go further.”
Collins said she has called state legislators to remind them that they represent all of the people of the state, “not just the progressives and the abortion supporters.”
“I think it will be difficult to break through,” she said.
Bishop Brennan recognizes the challenges that lie ahead in New York, as well. He said the key to creating change in the state is not just through changing laws but through changing hearts.
“Changing the law only does so much, but really what’s needed is a change of heart and conversion of heart, and that’s going to be a long slog,” he said. “But we have to be patient and walk with people and really try to show why that conversion is needed.”
By Bill Miller and Jessica Easthope
DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — A few days after becoming pastor and rector of the Cathedral Basilica of St. James in June 2019, Father Bryan Patterson noticed something odd about the historic church. He had been in DUMBO running errands; his evening stroll back to the parish came after sundown. But as he approached the campus at Jay Street and Cathedral Place, the basilica itself was anything but glorious.
“I noticed there were no lights on any of the buildings, except for two lights in the front,” Father Patterson said. “The two lights made it look like a police precinct.”
Comparisons to a haunted house also crossed his mind — not the image of a parish famously known as the “Mother Church” because it was the first Roman Catholic place of worship on Long Island.
“It bothered me that there was no light in the tower,” Father Patterson said. “I think that part of the issue is that I was ordained here. That’s when I realized, yeah, we’ve got to do something.”
Mission accomplished. On Nov. 29, passersby — and especially parishioners living nearby — beheld a renewed nightly glow beaming from a set of large LED lights in the tower.
They appeared just in time for Christmas, and to add an exclamation point on a bicentennial; St. James Parish celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2022.
A timer activates the globes each night to illuminate the neighborhood and surrounding skyscrapers, beckoning all to come worship God.
Parishioners are ecstatic. Many who had attended for more than 20 years could not remember ever seeing lights from the tower. Among them is Beatrice DiCostanzo, a lector who has attended St. James since 2016.
“I think it’s a beautiful addition to our church,” she said. “It’s a beacon of light. It’s Christ shining in the darkness. I don’t recall this ever being lit before. I know it brings me a lot of joy. Hopefully, it brings others joy, too. Lord knows we need our joy.”
Camille Ferdinand is a eucharistic minister and parishioner of 25 years who lives on the top floor of an apartment building across the street.
“Right away, I took pictures, and I started sending them out,” said Ferdinand about her first time seeing the lights on Nov. 29. “I think it’s wonderful with the season of Advent and Christmas upon us. It’s an amazing miracle.”
St. James was the first Catholic church built on Long Island in 1822. Previously, Catholics in Brooklyn took the ferry to Manhattan for Mass. It became a cathedral in 1853 with the creation of the Diocese of Brooklyn. A cemetery was also built there. But a fire in 1903 damaged the building beyond repair, so it was replaced with the current building, now nearly 120 years old.
Throughout its history as a cathedral, it has also been known as the “Bishop’s Church.” Father Patterson said that proper lighting from the tower would help honor that legacy.
The pastor said providing lights proved to be a challenge for him.
“There were other things in the church that I was able to fix by myself, with my own two hands,” he said. “But this [the lights] just evaded me. I don’t know that much about electrical fixtures, and the voltages, and current regulation, and all that.”
He decided to call AMC Electrical Inc. of Brooklyn, who had everything working by the end of the day.
Father Patterson added that the new lights added momentum to improvements at the cathedral that began during the run-up to the bicentennial. Now he hopes to add interior paint, brickwork, and even more lighting to the façade and the tower’s exterior.
“There is a statue of St. James up there that I don’t think anybody ever sees, other than pigeons,” he said.
Ultimately, all these efforts are not just to improve the cathedral’s appearance but to glorify the Creator, Father Patterson said.
“My intention in all of this,” he explained, “was to echo what Jesus has said, that you are the light of the world and that a city on a hill cannot be hidden (Matthew 5:14).
“And then He instructed us not to put a light under a bushel basket, but to let it shine, that all might see our light, and our good works, and give glory to God.
“And the same life-giving spirit that Jesus has given to us, we can now share with others.”
Deacon Ron Rizzuto, pastoral associate and business manager, has been at the parish for a decade. He joins Father Patterson and the parishioners in hoping the shining tower would be a new tool for evangelization.
“That is exactly what the hope is — that it will draw more people here,” he said. “Downtown Brooklyn and DUMBO have lots of people, and they keep building more buildings for them to live in. And I believe that many of them are Catholic, but they haven’t come to church.
“And so maybe that light will say, ‘Oh, look what’s here.’ We’ve already gotten a few new parishioners through that.”
Service is the key at Hope’s Kitchen. The wait staff is top notch, the food is five stars, and the outreach is outstanding.
In this edition of Pulse of the Parish, we introduce you to the volunteers at the Bensonhurst restaurant who are serving up plates of food with a side hope, to those who need it most.
Fighting to defend the unborn. What’s next for thousands of people after attending the March for Life movement.
How the White House plans to make abortions readily available to people.
In our next installment of Pulse of the Parish, how Brooklyn churchgoers are cooking up hope for those in need.
Laura Aguirre, MA, LPC La adolescencia es una de las etapas más complejas en el crecimiento del ser humano, en la cual se atraviesan muchos cambios fisiológicos y en donde la búsqueda de la identidad y el sentir de pertenecer y ser aceptados es una constante. Y en un mundo tan globalizado como en el que vivimos actualmente, hay mucho campo para la confusión, comparación y desinformación. Es imperativo estar presentes para nuestros adolescentes, acompañarles, y ayudarles a reconocerse como hijos e hijas amados de Dios.
Bishop Robert Brennan attended the 2023 March for Life with parishioners from the Diocese of Brooklyn and he joins Currents News to discuss why the abortion battle is so important at the state level, especially in New York.
National Correspondent for The Tablet and Crux, John Lavenburg, joins Currents News for a recap of the 2023 March for Life from Washington, D.C.