On Sunday, Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan celebrated what he calls a throwback to Christmas the Presentation of the Lord. The feast day which takes place forty days after the birth of Jesus marks when Mary and Joseph brought the Son of God to the Temple. In a message from Bishop Brennan on his Twitter, the shepherd of the Diocese of Brooklyn talked about how this fulfilled God’s promise of the birth of the Son of God.
Archives
Nation Mourns 67 Victims of Midair Collision Over Potomac River
As recovery efforts continue in the Potomac River, days after an Army helicopter and passenger jet collided midair, prayers for the 67 people killed onboard are pouring in from across the country. From college assemblies to church services, the victims are being remembered.
Catholic News Headlines for Friday 1/31/2025
A midair collision over the Potomac killed 67 people, including elite figure skaters. Investigators recovered black boxes as questions arise over air traffic control and the crash’s cause.
Turning to Catholic Schools Week, we learn about a military wife’s journey that takes an inspiring turn in a Brooklyn Catholic school!
St. Michael’s in Flushing rocked out as the NYPD band brought the house down with a high-energy concert to rock Catholic Schools Week!
Future pilots, doctors, and police officers? Students at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Academy dressed for their dreams and brought them to life!
U.S. Air Force Family Finds a Home at Bay Ridge Catholic Academy
By Jessica Easthope
Wearing a pink bow in her hair and a colorful sweater, Rachel Runyan looks nothing like a drill sergeant. But step into her classroom and she’ll start to sound like one. Every second counts when you run a tight ship.
“I am very focused on, like, time and order. And I’m very organized, so being in this life for 15 years, it rubs off on you in ways that you can never expect and things like that,” Rachel said.
Rachel has been a military spouse for almost 16 years, her husband Mike is a technical sergeant in the United States Air Force. They’ve lived all over the country.
“Northern California, Maryland, Southern California, and then here,” she said.
These days they live on base at Fort Hamilton and somehow, in the busiest city in the world, this family of four from southern Maryland found a home.
“We enrolled 12 days before school started, and we were just really treated like family, it’s just been a great place for my kids to learn and for me to grow as an educator. I couldn’t be more thankful to be a part of this community,” said Rachel.
“It was a little bit overwhelming. And I think once we found Bay Ridge Catholic everything felt like it kind of fell in line,” Mike said.
Bay Ridge Catholic Principal Paul Morisi says having Rachel and her children at the school has been a positive learning experience for everyone.
“What’s so beautiful about what Rachel has brought here is this experience that she’s had of traveling the country, teaching in different states with different communities so she could reach people in a different way that maybe some of our other teachers, can learn from,” he said.
Within the next year or so Rachel, Mike and their children will be somewhere new, but their time at Bay Ridge Catholic will stay with them.
“So many times this school has been a bright spot. It just feels like. It feels like magic,” said Rachel. “This is the standard that I need to look for wherever I go next.”
St. Rose of Lima Catholic Academy Marks Catholic Schools Week With Career Day
By Currents News
Some children want to be police officers when they grow up, and those at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Academy in Queens got to live out that dream at their Catholic Schools Week celebration.
Students at the Rockaway school were encouraged to dress up as their future careers, which included police officers, pilots, doctors, and even marine biologists.
Currents News asked some of those students about the motivation behind their career choices, while staff told us they hoped this dress-down day encourages the kids to dream big.
“I want to be a scientist because it’s fun to do experiments,” Maria Teixiera, a 1st grader at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Academy, told Currents News.
“My other grandpa in Ireland was playing airplanes and I want to be a pilot,” explained 2nd grader Cassius Flores. “That’s why” he decided to dress as a pilot.
“I want to be a vet when I grow up because there’s very important animals in the world and I know some will probably go extinct soon or something,” 3rd grader Talia Torres said.
“Here especially at St. Rose and I think all Catholic schools, we really work on fostering that independence, fostering that God has a plan for us and we are able to do whatever we want to do as long as we work hard and just continue to practice, practice, practice,” Thomas Hirdt, a 2nd grade teacher at the school, told Currents News.
Each classroom also had career day activities like making paper hats that proudly proclaimed their dream jobs.
NYPD Band Members Performs for Students at St. Michael’s Catholic Academy
By Currents News
Students at St. Michael’s Catholic Academy in Flushing, Queens, went to a Catholic school concert when over a dozen members of the New York City Police Department’s band visited the school. The group performed contemporary hits while the students and teachers danced and sang along.
Immaculate Conception Catholic Academy Learns About History With Wax Museum
By Currents News
At the sound of a bell statues came alive at Immaculate Conception Catholic Academy in Astoria, Queens, during the school’s annual immersive wax museum exhibit.
Students responded to the ring of the bell by presenting famous figure they researched and dressed up as, bringing household names to life with facts about each historical figure right before visitors’ very eyes.
Bishop Robert Brennan Visits Library, Student Council at St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Academy
By Currents News
Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan has been in several classrooms throughout the Diocese of Brooklyn for Catholic Schools Week. On Jan. 30, he helped unveil a brand new one.
He blessed a new reading room at the school in Greenpoint., Brooklyn, and spoke to students.
He was also on hand to see St. Stanislaus Kostka’s student council inauguration ceremony.
Catholic News Headlines for Thursday 1/30/2025
A deadly plane collision in Washington D.C. is being investigated after an American Airlines jet getting ready to land at Reagan National Airport collided with an Army helicopter.
New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan is criticizing comments Vice President JD Vance made about the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Students at St. Bernard Catholic Academy in Brooklyn are celebrating Catholic Schools Week by giving back to their community.
Brooklyn Catholic Academy and Church Work Together to Help the Needy
by Katie Vasquez
Students at St Bernard Catholic Academy in Bergen Beach pack away dozens of coats, hats, and gloves. They know with the latest freezing temperatures they need them,but others need them more.
“I hate being cold. So I can’t even imagine being cold in this type of weather,” said 8th grader, Hali Bailey at St Bernard Catholic Academy.
The Brooklyn school organized a coat drive, giving back to the needy by collecting the basics like warm clothing and toiletries for Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens to distribute.
“We collect stuff like this, like lotions, soaps, stuff and like, hairbrushes, stuff that could help them, like toothpaste and stuff,” said 5th grader at St Bernard Catholic Academy, Emma Puleo.
The drive is a collaboration between the academy and the parish, who also contributed items.
“It is a gift to have a parish school, an academy in the community. so, we work together, thank God, between the parish and the academy. We have a good working relationship, and that’s important. And it’s not just the parish that wants that, the parents ask for that relationship with the larger parish community,” said Father John Maduri, St Bernard of Clairvaux Church pastor, Father John Maduri.
And a part of their celebrations for Catholic Schools week, St Bernard’s understands the students have things to learn outside the classroom.
“A big part of going to Catholic school and living out their faith and learning about their faith is giving back to the community,” said St Bernard Catholic Academy principal, Tracy Flanagan.
The school believes Catholic education offers not only a lesson in religion but the spirit of charity. As the students look at the basic items that some families live without, it makes them count their own blessings.
“I’m definitely very fortunate to, like, have all that I have. and it’s very important to me to, like, know that other people are not as fortunate. and I’m very happy to give back to them and give back to my community,” said Bailey.
“I feel a sense of joy. yeah, because it feels good helping others,” said 8th grader at St Bernard Catholic Academy, Patrick Finley.
But giving back is a year round effort that the school will continue.