The Rite of Election is bringing hundreds of people in Brooklyn and Queens closer to becoming Catholic.
Pope Francis is no longer considered to be in imminent danger from his lung infection according to the Vatican, but he will be continuing his hospital stay in order to recuperate.
Parishioners in the Diocese of Brooklyn are continuing their Lenten pilgrimage with Mass, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the stations of the cross, and confession.
By Currents News
Young people who wanted to learn more about Lent got a lesson from Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan on the evening of March 8.
The Brooklyn shepherd sat down with dozens from the Shalom Catholic Community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn for a Q&A about the season leading up to Easter.
Two members of the missionary group asked the bishop everything the group members wanted to know about Lent, including its biblical significance.
The night that began with prayer and song ended in a group meal, which was a fundraiser for Shalom’s upcoming mission trip to Madagascar this summer.
By Currents News and Paula Katinas
Almost 700 soon-to-be Catholics from Brooklyn and Queens took a big step in their faith journey by taking part in the Rite of Election on Sunday, March 9 — a time-honored tradition that takes place annually on the first Sunday of Lent. The Rite of Election signifies that those who are to be baptized — called catechumens — have been chosen, or elected, by the Church. Amanda Dennison, who is among the newly elected, will not only be undergoing the Sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil at Blessed Sacrament Church in East Elmhurst on Holy Saturday, but she will return to the church a week later to get married.
Dennison and her husband, Jonathan Guaman, were married in a civil ceremony last year and are looking forward to their church wedding. Guaman, a lifelong Catholic, and Dennison met while attending Flushing High School.
Dennison is in the unique position of taking pre-Cana marriage prep classes at Blessed Sacrament while also taking part in the Order of Christian Initiation for Adults program.
Calling her husband “my best friend,” Dennison said he has been a pillar of support as she prepares for the baptism, holy Eucharist, and Confirmation.
“I can’t imagine, to be honest, doing this without him. He’s really been there for me through everything, supporting me, talking me through things, encouraging me, praying for me,” she said. “I’m so grateful to God that he put him in my life because I feel like God really knew who I needed and he matched us up in that way.”
The Dennisons plan to “put God at the center of our marriage,” she added.
Dennison said she is also joining the Catholic Church to fulfill her spiritual needs. She grew up in a Pentecostal household with parents who were Sunday school teachers.
“I had a really strong foundation, but as I got older, I had Catholic friends and I would get invited to different sacraments for confirmation and things like that. So as an adult, I started to question my tradition,” she said, noting what the Catholic faith offers.
“Compared to my Pentecostal background, the faith is there, but we are missing pieces. So for me, coming into Catholicism, it was like I had a puzzle and pieces were missing,” she added. “But then once I started to understand the Catholic faith, I was able to take the puzzles that I had with the missing pieces and use the knowledge that I had from Catholicism to fit in all those missing pieces.”
“That is the reason why I would love to become Catholic,” she continued, “because I really want to fulfill God’s will for my life and the purpose and the plan that he has for my life.”
By Currents News and Carol Glatz
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – As Pope Francis’ condition remains stable, which is a sign of continued improvement, he followed the start of the Lenten retreat for the Roman Curia by video linkup and met again with two top Vatican officials to stay abreast of current events, the Vatican press office said.
The pope also participated in Mass in the morning March 9, the first Sunday of Lent, in the chapel that is part of the suite of rooms reserved for the popes on the 10th floor of Rome’s Gemelli hospital, it said.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, and Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the substitute for general affairs in the secretariat, visited the pope at the hospital March 9 “and, among other things, updated him on some situations in the church and the world,” the press office said.
It was the third visit by the two officials since the 88-year-old pope was hospitalized Feb. 14.
Pope Francis had said he would be joining spiritually with those participating in the retreat in the Paul VI Audience Hall March 9-14. But the Vatican press office said he was able to follow the spiritual exercises from the hospital by video. The meditations are being led by Capuchin Father Roberto Pasolini, the new preacher of the papal household, and reflect on the theme, “The hope of eternal life.”
The pope, who has been diagnosed with double pneumonia and other respiratory difficulties, is continuing his prescribed therapies, including breathing exercises and physical therapy, the press office said. He also continues to use noninvasive mechanical ventilation with a mask at night and high-flow oxygen through a nasal tube during the day.
The pope’s doctors released no official medical bulletin given that his lab tests and condition continue to remain stable. The press office said his condition remains unchanged from March 8, and that this stability is in itself a sign of improvement. His overall “clinical picture remains complex,” it added.
Doctors said March 8 that the pope’s continued “gradual, slight improvement” is a sign that he is responding to the therapy he is receiving. The pope has remained without a fever “at all times,” and his oxygen levels “have improved,” the doctors had said in the medical bulletin released by the Vatican.
The March 8 bulletin was the first time the doctors spoke of “a good response to therapy.”
However, the bulletin said, the doctors are “prudently” still saying that Pope Francis’ prognosis is “guarded” as they await further improvements.
While he has been hospitalized, top members of the Roman Curia have been presiding in his stead over the Jubilee Masses that had been scheduled since last year.
Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, presided over the Mass concluding the Jubilee of the World of Volunteering in St. Peter’s Square March 9 and read the homily prepared by Pope Francis.
The Vatican press office also published a written message the pope had prepared for the midday Angelus.
In that message, he said that during his “prolonged hospitalization here, I too experience the thoughtfulness of service and the tenderness of care, in particular from the doctors and healthcare workers, whom I thank from the bottom of my heart.”
His text said he thinks of the many people who accompany and assist those who are ill “and who are for them a sign of the Lord’s presence. We need this, the ‘miracle of tenderness,’ which accompanies those who are in adversity, bringing a little light into the night of pain.”
The pope thanked “all those who are showing their closeness to me in prayer: heartfelt thanks to you all! I pray for you too.”
Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, was scheduled to lead the rosary for Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square at 9 p.m. Rome time March 9.
The daily rosary will be recited as part of the Lenten retreat of the Roman Curia March 10-13. It will still be broadcast online and shown on the big screens in St. Peter’s Square, but will start around 6 p.m. local time, right after the evening vespers and reflection at the retreat.
The rosary service “will resume in a renewed manner” on the last day of the retreat, March 14, to remain “a sign of faith and ecclesial communion,” the press office said.
By Jessica Easthope
There was standing room only on Sunday March 9 Sunday, at Immaculate Conception Church in Jamaica Estates, Queens.
“It’s almost a sense of being overwhelmed. I mean, in a good way,” said Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan of the group gathered there.
One-by-one, he greeted more than 430 men and women and their godparents as they made their way up to the altar during the Queens Rite of Election.
“For many of us, we were born into our faith. And it just seems so natural. But it stops us in our tracks when somebody says, ‘Yeah, this is I believe, what you believe.’ And that inspires all of us,” Bishop Brennan told Currents News.
Arnold Pryor, a parishioner at Incarnation – St. Gerard Majella Parish in Queens Village was inspired by his wife, Wendy and their two daughters, who were born Catholic. Now he’s one step closer to joining them in participating fully in the Mass.
“I feel lighter, freer,” he said. “It’s one, for my own journey and own personal relationship. But it’s also to strengthen my family as well.”
The catechumens, now called “the elect,” have participated in the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults or OCIA for the last two years, and will be baptized and receive the sacraments of communion and confirmation during the Easter Vigil.
“They are so looking forward to the first time they can come to the table for the Eucharist,” said Fr. Joseph Gibino, the Diocese of Brooklyn’s vicar for evangelization and catechesis.
Fr. Gibino says this old tradition gets richer every year, but just how far does it date back?
“To the beginning,” Fr. Gibino said. “ When we read the Acts of the Apostles, what the community did was gathered together to pray for those who were preparing for the Easter Vigil. And we’ve encouraged a longer process to really allow people to come to the encounter with Christ.”
And encounter they have, for Dan Dan Tien, a parishioner at St. Michael’s Church in Flushing, Christ is pure joy.
“Sometimes I feel lonely and helpless,” she said. “But right now I feel God with me.”
By Currents News
Bishop Robert Brennan gave this homily during the Lenten Pilgrimage stop at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Roman Catholic Church in Queens, New York on March 7, 2025.
This year, there are 37 churches along the pilgrimage route, with the excitement heightened by the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year.
Bishop Robert Brennan has designated six churches as shrine churches for the Jubilee Year. These churches, which are all along the Lenten pilgrimage route, will serve as destinations for a different type of pilgrimage — faith journeys that the faithful can take in the hope of being indulgences, the removal of temporal punishment for their sins.
The six churches are the Cathedral Basilica of St. James in Downtown Brooklyn, the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph in Prospect Heights, St. Jude Shrine Church in Canarsie, Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church in Forest Hills, Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Bayside, and the Shrine Church of St. Gerard Majella in Hollis.
Participants can mark their progress on the pilgrimage through an app — Lenten Pilgrimage — created by DeSales Media Group, the ministry that produces The Tablet and Currents News. The app is available in the Apple Store and Google Play. There is also a paper passport that pilgrims can use to mark off the churches they have visited.
Even if parishioners are not able to participate in person, they can still join the community online through the app to see all of the pilgrimage stops and even make prayer requests. Participants can get more information by visiting lent.dioceseofbrooklyn.org/.
By Jessica Easthope
Amanda Dennison still has the dress she wore during her civil wedding to her high school sweetheart Jonathan – and soon she’ll wear it for the start of yet another new chapter:
On April 19 at the Easter Vigil, she will become a Catholic.
Amanda’s decision to convert was slowly building inside her for years. Having grown up Pentecostal she has always had a relationship with Christ but she feels now that relationship is at a new level.
“I want to be able to be in a place that He can use me for the glory of His kingdom, and that His will will be done in my life,” she tells Currents News. “My parents, they were actually Sunday School teachers. As I got older I started to question my tradition, how I grew up. We were missing certain sacraments. And I didn’t understand why that was.”
So, she put in the work, starting with attending Mass at Blessed Sacrament Church in Jackson Heights, Queens.
“So I started buying different books. I was listening to converts. I started getting into apologetics, learning about the faith and listening to debates between Catholicism and Protestantism,” she explains. “And now I truly believe that Catholicism is the fullness of Christianity.”
Amanda will be baptized, receive communion and confirmation – three sacraments in one day – and a week later will come a fourth sacrament: she and Jonathan will be married in church.
“I’m so grateful to God that he put him in my life,” she says. “I just can’t wait to be able to receive the sacrament of matrimony and really ask God to be the center of our marriage and help us to be able to love each other in the way that He loves us.”
She already has so much to look forward to, but that’s not stopping Amanda from envisioning her future life with faith at the forefront.
“Now when I have kids, I can pour all of that knowledge within them and really build up their faith really strong,” she tells Currents News. “And I’m really looking forward to it. And I’m really grateful for the opportunity to be able to do this at this stage.”
It’s never too late to put faith first, and Amanda is proof.
“This journey that I’m going through,” she says. “It has a bigger purpose.”
Nearly 600 people in the Diocese of Brooklyn will get one step closer to becoming Catholic this weekend. You’ll meet one of them as she prepares for the Rite of Election.
The Diocese of Brooklyn is also on its own journey of faith, taking a Lenten Pilgrimage to churches across Brooklyn and Queens.
The Holy See has released another update on Pope Francis’ health. The Pontiff remains stable. The next detailed report will be released this coming Saturday.
By Currents News
Students at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Academy in Forest Hills, Queens are waltzing their way to life skills that will put them a step ahead.
Fifth and 8th graders at the school put on their dancing shoes Thursday, March 6 for a performance and final lesson with “dancing classrooms,” a program that spans 10 weeks and teaches school children the basics of ballroom dancing and essential life skills like teamwork, elegance, and respect.
Senior teaching artist Felix Pitre says that in just a few classes students “swing” out of their comfort zones and get in rhythm. “They’re really enjoying it, having fun and maybe for those who are still a little uncomfortable, they’re here to put on a show,” he tells Currents News.
“I never knew how to dance. I never knew how to move my hips. I never knew anything about music,” 8th grader Noah Edmond explains. “And I learned so much from this experience.”
“As we progress on and on, it really began to change my perspective,” adds classmate Sophia Christie. “I definitely learned to respect a lot of people.
At the end of the performance students grabbed a proud family member from the audience onto the dance floor.
A new pro-life medical center has opened in the Diocese of Brooklyn and is ready to support expectant mothers in New York.
Meanwhile, New York City mayor Eric Adams is making sure that new moms bring home more than just their bundle of joy from the hospital through a new program.
The Vatican says that Pope Francis is continuing his treatment, doing physical therapy, and still resting at Gemelli Hospital in Rome.