Israeli Tank Raid: Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza

In the Middle East, the violence continues. Israel carried out a “targeted raid” overnight in northern Gaza.

The Israeli military briefly sent in tanks and armored vehicles, claiming to strike several militant targets in order to “prepare the battlefield” ahead of its ground invasion.

The raid comes as the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza strip worsens.

It has been under siege, running out of food, water, and medicine.

The only Catholic parish in the Gaza strip has been a source of refuge for Christians there and now they are getting the support of Pope Francis, who called the parish’s pastor.

The Church of the Holy Family has been providing food and shelter for more than 100 people who lost their homes to the bombings.

Mass of Hope and Healing: Diocese of Brooklyn Brings Clergy Abuse Survivors Together

By Jessica Easthope

Every year the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Office for the Protection of Children and Young People comes up with new ways to support survivors of clergy sex abuse. This year the Mass of Hope and Healing is being opened up to survivors of any abuse.

Maryellen Quinn, the director of the Office for the Protection of Children and Young People, and Elizabeth Harris, the Diocese of Brooklyn’s victim assistance coordinator, say this year people who have suffered any type of abuse can heal through faith.

The two work directly with survivors of clergy abuse.

They’ve heard their concerns and have helped them process their pain and they’re here to tell them God’s love for them is unwavering.

With the Mass of Hope and Healing, survivors are welcomed into the Church, and in turn welcome their faith back into their lives.

“We recognize that it’s not that easy for them to walk into a place that should have been a sanctuary for them and was not,” Quinn said. “We want our Church to grow again, we’re never going back to the way things were where these things happened, we’re moving forward. We want them to heal by watching us in what we’re doing to move forward.”

“I have found that they want to heal, they want to come back to their Church, they want to feel that they’re being heard and that the Church is there for them and recognizes the wrongs the Church has done in the past,” Harris said. “So I want to be here for them to hear that from them and support them and let them know that while we’re very sorry for what’s happened in the past we’re always looking to do better.”

A community of survivors from the Diocese of Brooklyn helps plan the Mass of Hope and Healing, picking readings and songs they say will help them regain trust in the Church and strengthen their faith.

The Mass is just one of the ways the Diocese of Brooklyn attempts to help victim-survivors.

It has also created the Office of Victim Assistance to help individuals who come forward with allegations of abuse.

The office provides supportive initial counseling, therapy referrals, and pastoral resources for victim-survivors.

Every employee of the Brooklyn Diocese, including students, undergoes mandatory background checks and training, designed to spot the signs of abuse and how to stop it.

The diocese’s conversations with victim-survivors led to the yearly Mass of Hope and Healing, where the faithful come together and pray.

This year the Mass is being celebrated at St. Bernard Church in Bergen Beach, but you can watch it live right here on NET TV.

You can also check in with Currents News for updates on the Mass.

There’s also a confidential diocesan line to report abuse, that number is 888- 634-4499.

Reports are automatically sent to law enforcement and there isn’t any Church involvement to ensure compliance.

If you know anything, please give it a call.

Catholic News Headlines for Thursday 10/26/2023

The Diocese of Brooklyn is helping victim survivors of clergy abuse heal through faith.

At least 18 people are dead after a pair of mass shootings in Maine on Wednesday night, Lewiston police reported.

The Israeli military said its troops and tanks briefly raided northern Gaza Thursday night.

The Synod on Synodality is winding down and the hundreds of delegates in Rome have written a letter to the people of God.

Annual Red Mass: Catholic Judges and Lawyers Pray at the Start of the Court Year

Those who uphold justice in the Diocese of Brooklyn looked to God for guidance on Tuesday, Oct. 24.

The diocese celebrated its annual Red Mass at the Immaculate Conception Center in Douglaston, Queens.

Every year, judges and lawyers gather together in prayer to mark the beginning of the judicial year.

Bishop Robert Brennan celebrated the Mass, and told those present that they are called to a holy and noble profession.

Rising Cost of the Migrant Crisis: St. John’s Bread & Life Tries to Keep Up With the Need

By Jessica Easthope

New York City is currently housing and feeding more than 60,000 migrants and still organizations like St. John’s Bread & Life have had to increase their hot meal distribution by 92%. That’s only since july.

They come one by one, but at St. John’s Bread & Life, that adds up.

Sister Marie Sorenson, the organization’s associate executive director, said you can feel the desperation of New York City’s migrant crisis, from both the newly arrived, and the pantries trying to keep up.

“It’s affected St. John’s Bread & Life profoundly because we have quadrupled our number of people we serve in our community,” Sister Sorenson said.

Earlier this year it cost the city $363 per migrant per day. In January the Adams administration projected it would fall to $320, but instead it’s up to $394 dollars. The City Council wants to know why.

Councilman Ari Kagan said this year members were given $22,000 dollars less to support soup kitchens and food pantries.

“I’m an immigrant and a refugee myself, I’m very sympathetic to this situation,” Councilman Kagan said. “I expected more money for these programs but there was less money for these programs. The cost of groceries for New Yorkers is enormous and now we’re cutting food pantries and soup kitchens because of the migrant crisis.”

More than 500 migrant families are now regulars at Bread & Life. Sister Caroline Tweedy, the executive director of the organization said their mission is to feed those in need but if the city is also feeding the newly arrived, why are they still hungry?

“It certainly can be overwhelming,” Sister Tweedy said. “What we found is people are desperate.”

Many migrants say the two meals they get from the city a day are not culturally sensitive. Sister Tweedy said Bread & Life is supplementing for the city, but not getting enough support in return.

“Local government and state government are really looking to nonprofits like Bread and Life to make up that gap,” Sister Tweedy. “You want to be that person who sees the face of God in the other. Isn’t that what we are about as Christians? I also have to think about the future as well and no one knows what the government is going to offer.”

With the holidays fast approaching St. John’s Bread & Life is prepared to give out more than 5,000 Thanksgiving meals, an 85% increase over last year.

Mayor Eric Adams said he’s trying to avoid New York becoming a tent city, but he’s running out of options.

New York City is sheltering more than 65,000 migrants and recently had to close some emergency shelters because of fire safety concerns.

The crisis is set to get worse as U.S. Customs and Border Protection records the most encounters in more than 60 years.

The agency saw more than 2.4 million people in the 2023 fiscal year.

September alone broke a monthly record, with more than 269,000 apprehensions.

Israel Agrees to Invasion Delay: Halting Attack to Allow Americans to Protect Troops There

Israel has agreed to delay its ground invasion of Gaza to allow the United States to protect troops across the Middle East.

American officials persuaded Israel to hold off until air defense systems could be placed in the region.

U.S. officials believe their forces will be targeted once Israel launches the ground invasion.

The delay also takes into account hostage negotiations and plans to supply humanitarian support inside Gaza.

Pope Francis has been praying for peace in the Holy Land and is asking all Catholics to do the same.

He has marked Oct. 27 as a Day of Prayer and Fasting for the Middle East.

John Lavenburg, National Correspondent for The Tablet and Crux, joins Currents News to discuss how the Catholic Church is responding.

Catholic News Headlines for Wednesday 10/25/2023

The cost of the migrant crisis in New York City has, once again, gone up.

Mayor Eric Adams says he’s actively looking for outdoor spaces for migrants to live.

As the war between Israel and Hamas intensifies, the World Health Organization is warning of a deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Bishop Robert Brennan helped Catholic lawyers and judges pray for guidance at the Diocese of Brooklyn’s annual Red Mass in Queens.

She ‘Went Through Hell’: Israeli Hostage Released by Hamas Speaks

Two elderly hostages, now free from the grip of Hamas, recounted the moments they thought might never come.

One of the released hostages said she was kidnapped on a motorbike and taken to Gaza.

Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, is likening her time with the group to going “through hell.”

“She’s really the first person that has been with other people there and I think she’s very aware that she can pass on information,” said Sharone LIfshitz, the daughter of released hostage Yocheved Lifshitz.

“Their medical condition is OK, they’re talking,” said Deputy Director General Nursing and Head Nurse of Ichilov Hospital, Eti Uziel. “At first, we immediately brought them to their family members. It was a very, very emotional meeting.”

Her 83-year-old husband remains a hostage.

Meanwhile in Gaza, people frantically search for survivors in buildings that have been bombed to ruins.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health has reported that more than 700 people have been killed in a bloody 24-hour period, and Gaza is without much-needed fuel, which is being withheld in humanitarian aid deliveries.

Gaza’s hospitals are facing the possibility of mass casualty situations.

“Without electricity, you know, this hospital will be just a mass grave,” said Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a British-Palestinian doctor working at Shifa Hospital.

As attacks escalate, the Israeli military says it’s now waiting for a green light on a ground invasion.

“Hamas is responsible for civilian casualties but we will do every effort to avoid them and to fight this war as speedily and as rapidly as we can,” said Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. “But it could be a long war.”

“To any state or non-state actor that is considering opening another front in this conflict against Israel, or who may target Israel’s partners, including the United States — don’t,” said U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken. “Don’t throw fuel on the fire.”

Catholic Foundation Milestone: Celebrating The Past, Present And Future Of Diocesan Initiatives

The Catholic Foundation for Brooklyn and Queens, the non profit that supports several diocese initiatives, is celebrating a milestone anniversary.

It’s been 25 years since the foundation was started.

Since then an endowment of nearly $90 million has grown to back education, evangelization efforts, youth ministry, and the social needs of the Diocese of Brooklyn.

At a lunch on Tuesday Oct. 24, the foundation honored those who have been a driving force since the beginning, among them, Monsignor John Bracken, the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Vicar for Patrimony.

The foundation has given out $100 million in grants to date.

Vigil for Beloved Crossing Guard: Community Remembers Queens Woman Who Kept Kids Safe

by Katie Vasquez

Krystyna Naprawa was a mother, a grandmother, a parishioner at St. Helen Church in Howard Beach, and a beloved crossing guard for more than a decade.

At the same spot where she safely shepherded kids to school, her own life was lost, a life that was remembered by those who knew her best.

From police to parents to the people who loved her most, dozens came to light a candle and say goodbye to Naprawa.

Her daughter, son and other family are too grief-stricken to speak, except to say they will miss her, and she’s their angel.

Naprawa spent 13 years at the corner of Woodhaven Boulevard and Atlantic Avenue, helping kids get to school.

It was while she was doing that job, helping five people cross the street, when the NYPD says a driver in a dump truck hit her.

She was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver received a desk appearance ticket for failing to yield to a pedestrian and failure to use due care.

In the wake of her tragic passing, this community and the kids who knew her best are choosing to remember her warm smile and positive attitude.

“She would wave to me ‘hi’ and I always tell her at the end of the day when I usually come home, I would tell her ‘Oh, see you tomorrow,’ every single day,” said MS 210 student, April Aparicio. “I always see her replying to me, brightening up for a smile every single day. She was always positive to me.”

“Every day we would have a conversation, she would ask me how I am, what’s going on in the community, how’s the weather just said, simple interaction was important to me, you know that there was someone in the community that cares,” said former student, Daniel Hill.

Naprawa’s funeral is on Oct. 26 at her home parish of St. Helen’s. Elected officials have vowed to make this intersection safer for the community.

New York City’s Department of Transportation is reporting the number of pedestrian fatalities dropped in 2022 from the year before.

In 2022, the city registered 118 pedestrian deaths, down from 126 in 2021.

That number is an even further drop from the death toll in 2013, the year before the implementation of the city’s “Vision Zero” initiative.

That year there were 184 deaths reported.

Breaking down those deaths by borough, the DOT actually noted Brooklyn and Queens saw the highest percentage of pedestrian fatalities in the city between the years of 2017 and 2021.

Brooklyn registered at 34%, followed by Queens with 28%, Manhattan at 19%, the Bronx at 14%, and Staten Island at 5%.