2024

The U.S. bishops are addressing immigration and the environment at their fall plenary assembly in Baltimore, Maryland. National Correspondent John Lavenburg joins with an update on the assembly status.

Students at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Academy in Astoria, Queens, recently got a bird’s eye view at LaGuardia airport when they watched air traffic controllers in action. We’ll get a sneak peek at what they learned.

A Chicago mom reunites with her son years after adoption, finding out he was a frequent customer at her bakery.

Pro-Life Activists Continue Prayers after Passage of Prop 1

By Katie Vasquez

Pro-life activists were out on the city streets this weekend, continuing the fight for life despite the recent passing of a pro-abortion measure.

“It’s unfortunate that the majority of the population, especially in New York, don’t understand what abortion actually does, especially to the woman. It’s murder of an unborn child. and we’ve been trying to get that message out there,” said Witness for Life member, Tom Mourino.

Last Tuesday more than 60% of voters in New York said yes to proposition one,

a measure that enshrines abortion on demand with no restrictions at any point during pregnancy into the state’s constitution.

Although disappointed by the outcome, Witness for Life, a group that advocates for the unborn- was outside Planned Parenthood on Court street Saturday.

“This proposition just started another layer of concern for us, for the family, for the caring of children, for the parents, ability, their right to care for their children,” said Witness for Life member, Omar Castro. “So it encourages us to continue with prayer. We know that God exists. We know that our prayers are heard and they are answered.”

Before bringing their prayers to the streets, some pro-lifers celebrated mass at nearby St Charles Borromeo church, where Father Eamon Murray spoke about the ballot measure and encouraged parishioners to keep fighting for the unborn.

“The election and the grace of God has given us a moment of grace,” said Witness for Life member, Father Eamon Murray. “Let’s be honest. Really, this is a moment of grace that God has given us. So many people have prayed and many good people. So we must not waste it or think everything is done. No, we have to pray for revival. We have to pray that America will turn back to God, the whole world.”

Witness for Life started the day optimistic.

“Onward, christian soldiers, we have no reason to despair that one day evil will completely disappear,” said Father Murray.

And even with negative comments by people passing by, they know they have to be strong for the unborn.

“We’re getting a lot of middle fingers and people are saying nasty remarks,” said Mourino. “So it’s we still have a lot of work to do, a lot of ground to cover.”

They plan to keep coming back every second Saturday, hoping to change the hearts and minds of others.

“I see that our effort is bearing fruit and we continue,” said Castro. “We continue. we know that god is with us and, we see also, the effect that it’s having on the, on the public and we just continue with prayer.”

The Bishops of New York are committed to helping moms in need.

They have a resources page, designed to find a pro-life center near you.

Just go to nyscatholic.org/helpformoms

There’s also a statewide map that directs you to local Catholic parishes that have ministries available.

Catholic News Headlines for Tuesday 11/12/2024

New Yorkers voted to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution, but Witness For Life activists are responding with prayer outside Planned Parenthood, in an ongoing effort to defend the unborn.

U.S. bishops from around the country gathered in Baltimore to begin their fall plenary assembly. The National Correspondent for the Tablet and Crux, John Lavenburg, reports on what the prelates had to say on the first day of talks.

Father Andrew Dutko from the Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey, is answering an unexpected call to serve as a Navy chaplain in honor of Veterans Day.

Students Gain Hands-On Experience During Bay Ridge Catholic Academy’s Veterans Day Presentation

Bay Ridge Catholic Academy in the Diocese of Brooklyn celebrated Veterans Day in a memorable way, offering students an interactive experience beyond the usual assembly.

The event featured Major Anthony Perlongo, a Military Intelligence Officer with the Army National Guard, who shared insights about his military career and training.

Major Perlongo challenged students to a push-up contest, giving them a taste of military physical conditioning.

Excitement filled the room as 5th through 8th graders joined in, cheered on by their classmates.

Students also got the rare opportunity to try on Major Perlongo’s tactical bulletproof vest, bringing military equipment and training closer to home for these young learners.

TONIGHT AT 7: Witness For Life Continues Fight for New York’s Unborn Post-Prop 1

By Katie Vasquez

New York State is facing a major pro-life loss – the abortion capital of the country recently voted to enshrine the procedure into the state’s constitution.

More than 60 percent of voters in New York said yes to Proposition 1, but pro-lifers in the city are continuing the fight, saying their defense of the unborn won’t be deterred. Witness For Life, a group that advocates for the unborn, was outside a Planned Parenthood in Brooklyn on November 9.

At Cyclone Bagels, Veterans Get Job Opportunities and Community Support

By Currents News

A Coney Island bagel store that’s filling a hole in the market by employing formerly homeless veterans is officially open.

When you walk into Cyclone Bagels on Surf Avenue in Brooklyn, New York, Army veteran Anthony Jackson is at the register.

He and other vets make up 50% of the business’s workforce. When he returned home from Vietnam, Anthony struggled with substance abuse and some health issues. But then Cyclone Bagels helped him get his act together, and now his job means everything.

“It did save my life,” he tells Currents News.

Cyclone Bagels is open 7 days a week from 7 am to 3 pm.

Catholic News Headlines for Friday 11/8/2024

Excitement is growing in the Diocese of Brooklyn for the 2025 Jubilee. The year-long celebration in Rome begins in just over a month, and nearly 140 parishioners from Brooklyn and Queens will be packing their bags to attend.

After five years of silence, the iconic bells at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris are ringing out for the first time since the 2019 fire.

A new Brooklyn bakery, Cyclone Bagels, is serving up fresh treats while offering jobs to formerly homeless veterans.

A World War II hero’s Purple Heart, missing for over 30 years, was found 15,000 miles from his New Jersey home just days before Veterans Day.

Diocese of Brooklyn Prepares for Jubilee 2025

By Katie Vasquez

Right now Peter’s Way Tours is busy planning their most important trip for 2025.

“We started almost a year ago on booking pilgrimages for the Jubilee,” Peter Bahou, founder and president of Peter’s Way Tours, tells Currents News. “The Jubilee is once every 25 years.”

In preparation for the momentous occasion, Peter’s Way has nearly 140 people in the Diocese of Brooklyn planning to head to Rome for the Jubilee year. It’s a time when people of faith are encouraged to embark on pilgrimages, repent their sins, and focus on their spiritual life.

“It’s a time of conversion. It’s a time of getting closer to the Lord,” Father Robert Adamo, pastor of St Ephrem Church in Brooklyn, explains. His parishioners in Dyker Heights are excited to fly to Rome next year. Fr. Adamo will be taking nearly two dozen parishioners, and the anticipation is already building.

“[They’re] taking the brochures, they’re reading about it, [about] the different places we’re going,” says Fr. Adamo, “So, yes, there is a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of excitement about it.”

While there are a multitude of events for everyone in the church including clergy, young people, armed forces, artists and so much more, St Ephrem is choosing to go during Lent, a time when Fr. Adamo believes people are seeking a connection with Christ.

“It is a time when people generally feel it is a time they want to do more spiritually,” he explains.

Bahou, founder of Peter’s Way Tours, says the thousands of other pilgrims traveling across the globe to Rome have made the planning difficult. “We are doing very well for the Jubilee. However,” he notes, “we received many other requests which we cannot accommodate. Hotels, especially during the peak season in Rome, are taken, sold out. But it’s going to be a tremendous year for the Jubilee” nonetheless, he believes.

Fr. Adamo says the trip is well worth it for the rewards they’ll receive: “If we do reconciliation and prayer and going through the Holy doors, there’s indulgences… spiritual gifts that we gain in this time of Jubilee.”

Immaculate Conception Church in Astoria, Queens is also planning to send a group in June, 2025, and 80 young people from the Diocese of Brooklyn will head to Rome in July.

If you would like to join one of the groups going to Rome, head to https://www.petersway.com/.

New Jersey Priest On Path To Becoming Navy Chaplain

By Katie Vasquez

For five years Father Andrew Dutko has served in the Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey. But, he says once upon a time he was on a different path of service.

Throughout most of his adult life Fr. Andrew was in the Marine Corps. He later met the love of his life when he went back to school for mathematics.

“It took me several months, but I finally wore her down and she agreed to go on a date with me,” he tells Currents News of his wife Barbara. They were married for nine years before the unspeakable happened.

“We went to bed on December 26th, I woke up” he recalls. Barbara, however, did not.

Fr. Andrew’s grief turned into anger at God. In his sadness, he went to work as a military contractor in Afghanistan and stopped attending Mass for a month.

“I was walking around in the middle of the night shouting the rosary, just just hoping that someone would kill me,” he explains. This was until an encounter with a Navy chaplain helped Fr. Andrew realize his calling.

“I realized that God was the only thing I still found valuable, so I couldn’t throw him out of my life,” he says. Now, Fr. Andrew is hoping to combine both his lives of service as he prepares to become a Navy chaplain himself.

The New Jersey priest wants to be there for the men and women who serve this country, especially when considering that as of 2021, 17 veterans and active military committed suicide per day in the U.S.

He asks, “Could just by me walking around the ship like and bringing Jesus to them, just in conversation, could that have made a difference?”

While he asks this question, knows with certainty that he has a guardian angel helping him along the way.

“I’m trying to live like the person she fell in love with,” he says when reflecting on the memories he has of his wife. “But this is just one more step in fulfilling that, making her proud from heaven.”

Fr. Andrew heads off for training on January 12, 2025, and expects to be offering pastoral care to military members by the spring.

His service comes at a crucial time – the U.S. military is in dire need of chaplains. The Archdiocese for the Military Services U.S.A. says that while 25% of the U.S. Armed Forces are Catholic, Catholic priests only make up 7% of chaplains.

Currently, just 196 priests are providing pastoral care for 300,00 men and women in uniform. The Archdiocese says this gap has been growing since aging priests are retiring faster than they can be replaced.

TONIGHT AT 7: Diocese of Brooklyn Preparing for 2025 Jubilee Pilgrimage to Rome

Nearly 140 pilgrims from the Diocese of Brooklyn are preparing for a journey of faith to Rome for the 2025 Jubilee Year, an event that occurs once every 25 years.

The Jubilee is a time for Catholics to embark on pilgrimages, seek repentance, and renew their spiritual lives.

Lent, a period of reflection and preparation in the Catholic Church, was chosen intentionally for the pilgrimage.

The 2025 Jubilee promises to be a meaningful time of spiritual renewal for thousands of pilgrims worldwide.