Queens Parishioners Form Living Rosary to Pray for World Peace

by Katie Vasquez

Parishioners at Our Lady of Mercy Church were praying out loud for a better world, starting with the Holy Land.

“We hope that peace will be restored to the very areas that Jesus himself preached in, walked in, taught in, so that was one of our intentions,” said Msgr. John McGuirl, temporary administrator of Our Lady of Mercy.

Dozens of children and adults formed a living rosary outside Our Lady of Mercy on Sunday, Oct. 22.

“When war broke out in the Holy Land, we said what a perfect tribute to Our Lady to pray for her sons and daughters in the Holy Land,” Fabienne Danies, a parishioner at the church, said.

The war is 5,000 miles away but it’s on the minds of many in Forest Hills.

“In a neighborhood where we have many Jewish brothers and sisters, [we want] to pray for peace in Israel that the hostages be returned unharmed,” Msgr. McGuirl said.

It’s a most important prayer for children, by children, that history doesn’t keep repeating.

“It’s really important because if you have more peace in the world, maybe the world would be a little bit better and more safe,”said Madeline Sands, a student at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Academy.

“It helps someone get to know each other more, for example say like someone is hurting someone and then they, like, make peace and then they become friends,” said Xavier Guanco, another student at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Academy.

The living rosary will continue until the fighting ends.

Final Resting Place: Murdered Activist’s Grave Gets Headstone

by Katie Vasquez

One by one, people left red carnations at the new headstone of Pietro “Pete” Panto at St. Charles-Resurrection Cemeteries on Long Island.

The grave, now piled high with carnations, was once unmarked until Joseph Sciorra of the Calandra Institute at Queens College stepped in.

“There was no tombstone and I was just sort of shocked,” Sciorra said.

Panto worked as a longshoreman in the late 1930’s, loading and unloading ships on the docks stretching from the Brooklyn Navy Yard to Red Hook.

At the time, their labor union, the International Longshoremen’s Association, was controlled by organized crime. Panto denounced their corruption, rallying thousands of workers, but his activism came at a price.

“Here was a man who was murdered by the mob, here was a man who fought against a corrupt union that was not looking out for the workers,” Sciorra said.

The Italian American went missing in 1939. When his body was found two years later, Panto’s family couldn’t afford a funeral, so Scotto Funeral Home stepped in to cover those expenses.

Deacon John Heyer who runs the funeral home, now says he learned about that day that Panto’s body was found through family members.

“You would see the words “Dov’e Panto” or “Where is Panto,” and eventually when he was found, which was about two or three years after he initially went missing, it was kind of a sigh of relief,” said Deacon Heyer.

After discovering his grave almost eight decades later, Sciorra set out to honor the activist by raising money for a headstone through GoFundMe. Donations poured in from as far as Tacoma, Washington.

“People were saying, ‘You know, my grandfather, he was a Swedish immigrant but he worked on the docks, so this is for all the working people,’ ” Sciorra said.

Now with the new grave marker, his legacy can continue with the hope that future generations will remember him.

“Unfortunately, he paid with his life, for that truth just as we relate to Christ, you know, dying for the truth, and so Pete did that for that community. and these are the stories that I think as Italian Americans we need to continue to tell,” Deacon Heyer said.

Catholic News Headlines for Monday 10/23/2023

Parishioners from Our Lady of Mercy in Forest Hills formed a living rosary on Sunday.

Thousands of Catholics gathered in upstate New York over the weekend for their own Eucharistic Congress.

Catholics around the globe celebrated World Mission Sunday.

After being killed in the late 1930s for standing up to the MOB, Pete Panto has finally been given a headstone with his name on it.

Pope Francis Calls President Biden to Discuss Israel and Gaza

Pope Francis had a 20-minute phone call with U.S. President Biden this weekend. It was the Pope who requested the call and, according to the White House, the two spoke about “the latest developments in Israel and Gaza.”

They also discussed President Biden’s recent trip to Israel and the need to work towards peace in the Middle East.

The Pope and President Biden have met in-person on multiple occasions, most recently in 2021. But this phone call comes just three months after Cardinal Zuppi met with Biden at the White House on behalf of the Pope. On this occassion, Cardinal Zuppi and the President also discussed peace, but specifically between Russia and Ukraine.

Evangelizing Video Games: New Christian Game Platform Provides Safe and Fun Alternative to Harm

Brent Dusing, the CEO and founder of the gaming platform TruPlay, is set to address the pressing concerns surrounding online exposure of harmful content to children.

Dusing is taking proactive steps by introducing Christian video games.

These games, designed to be safe, enjoyable, and of top-notch quality, aim to impart God’s truth to young minds.

The highly anticipated launch of TruPlay’s innovative games is slated for the upcoming months.

Passionist Priest Turns 100: Father John McMillan Becomes Oldest In East Coast Province History

by Jessica Easthope

Father John McMillan is one of the last priests to enter 7:45 morning prayer at the Passionist Monastery in Jamaica Estates.

After all, you get a pass on your 100th birthday.

“I never expected to become a living legend,” Father McMillan said.

But it’s not Father McMillan’s age that’s legendary. It’s how he’s lived, as a priest, a drug and alcohol abuse counselor, a nursing student, and a WWII Air Force navigator.

Father McMillan said he doesn’t have any big secrets — making it to this age is purely God’s will, noting that he beat colon cancer at age 90.

“In that 10 years, as late as it seems to be, I’ve come closer to the Lord, learned about the Lord and gained more feeling about helping people than I did before,” Father McMillan said.

The day before his birthday, his family and his brother priests held a big celebration in his honor. So far, his 100th birthday has been his favorite.

“It was tremendous, all my relatives turned out, people I hadn’t seen in years, Father Bill set it up so beautifully.”

Monastery Rector Father Bill Murphy said it’s almost ironic that the oldest Passionist priest keeps everyone else up to date on the latest news.

Every day after breakfast, Father McMillan heads to the library to grab his favorite newspapers, among them the New York Times — and The Tablet.

“A great conversationalist, what’s going on in the news, the whole magazine and newspaper,” Father Murphy said. “He raises the level of our conversation frequently, I would say.”

In many ways, Father McMillan said, he still feels like an obedient soldier.

“We have a vow of obedience, so that’s added to loving God first and your neighbor and the commitment we make to be the best servant we could be,” Father McMillan said.

Looking at his life, you’d think he’s done it all but his only regret, he says, is that he didn’t do more.

Mother Moves to Israel for Son: Queens Woman Sells Belongings to Be Close to IDF Soldier

By Jessica Easthope

Most people would run away from a war zone, but Elana Kirschbaum is running toward one.

“I’m literally doing everything that I can,” Kirschbaum said. “My place is not to sit here on my couch and watch news and post on social media, I want to be there, I want to be in the trenches, I want to be hands-on.”

Everything in her Rego Park apartment has a price tag on it. She’s selling it all ahead of her one-way flight to Israel on Oct. 30. Kirschbaum holds dual citizenship, and her only son David is a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces.

“This is war,” Kirschbaum said. “I’m scared for the Jewish people in Israel. I’m scared for my son, of course. All I do is pray and hope and wait for the text and wait for a possible phone call just so I get a ‘good morning’ from him so I know that he’s OK.”

David was born in Israel and raised in Queens. He moved back after high school graduation with a clear goal of serving his country.

“He was still a little boy,” Kirschbaum said. “And now he’s a man. And he’s in a fighting unit. And I am his number one fan.”

A teacher by trade, Kirschbaum was always planning to move, but in the last week and a half those plans have been expedited.

With David back on the front lines, Kirschbaum is putting her worldly possessions up for sale, because she says the future of her homeland is at stake.

“My son is already living there,” Kirschbaum said. “That’s my bonus in making this leap of faith, true faith. And I know Hashem, God is going to guide me in whichever direction that I am meant to be in this life.”

Bishop Brennan to Celebrate Mass for Peace During Pope Francis’ Day of Prayer

Pope Francis is calling on Catholics around the world to stand for peace in the holy land.

He wants Oct. 27 to be the day people pray and fast.

In response, Bishop Robert Brennan will celebrate with a holy hour and Mass. He said there’s no room for hate in the Diocese of Brooklyn.

A Holy Hour will be held at 11 a.m., followed by the Mass at the Cathedral Basilica at 250 Cathedral Pl., Downtown Brooklyn, at noon on Friday, Oct. 27.

Bishop Brennan recently reached out to several rabbis to express his support for the Jewish people.

Catholic News Headlines for Friday 10/20/2023

A Queens woman is selling everything she owns to follow her son to the frontlines of the Holy Land.

The Diocese of Brooklyn will celebrate a Mass for Peace next Friday, October 27.

Christian leaders in the Holy Land worry that peace may never be possible.

Father John Mcmillan is the first passionist priest on the east coast to turn 100.

Using Art for Action: Artists Hope Posters Will Bring Israeli Hostages Home

By Katie Vasquez

These posters line nearly every corner of New York City.

The faces of hundreds of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas, some as young as 9 months old.

Israeli citizens Nitzan Mintz and Dede Bandaid arrived in New York for a three-month artist residency in September.

“We know some of the people’s families, I love them actually,” Mintz said. “There is no one Israeli that doesn’t know someone today. The entire Jewish community got hit traumatically.”

About halfway through their stay, they heard troubling news from home.

“My parents [are] saying that the entire country is, like, full with rockets all over the place, like falling from the sky,” Mintz said.

The pair felt helpless being hundreds of miles away.

So they decided to use their talents to put a face to the hundreds affected by the conflict.

“They have to see their eyes to understand it’s real persons” Bandaid said.

On the first day of the project, they printed 2,000 missing person posters and found many people hesitant to interact with the art.

“People were very suspicious, they didn’t even want to come close and read it,” Bandaid said. “They didn’t want anything to do with us.”

Disappointed but determined, they uploaded the posters to a website, kidnappedfromisrael.com and immediately noticed a shift.

“The next day was completely different, when we woke up, the streets of Manhattan were filled with posters,” Bandaid said.

Soon they noticed it wasn’t just New York taking part.

“it has spread not just to other cities in the U.S. but worldwide,” said Bandaid. “It got to Europe, the far East, [and] to South America.”

The pair estimate some 45,000 posters are downloaded a day.

It’s their hope that with the world’s help these missing Israelis may be able to come home safe and sound.