Currents News Jessica Easthope finds out from a priest who cooked what scholars believe was served at the last supper.
We have an update on the nationwide campaign to teach Catholics more about the Eucharist.
Americans will soon honor a tragic day in our history, the anniversary of 9/11.
Pope Francis had a special guest at the Vatican- Sylvester Stallone.
The Vatican is just days away from beatifying an entire family that was killed for hiding Jewish people during World War II.
Nazis raided the home of Jozef and Wiktoria Ulma in southeast Poland in March of 1944, where they discovered eight Jews taking refuge on their farm.
The Nazis shot the Polish couple and their seven children.
The national correspondent for the Tablet and Crux, John Lavenburg, was in Poland as the country prepared for that beatification.
Lavenburg joined Currents News from Rome to discuss more about the process.
The face of Fontbonne Hall Academy is getting a new look, thanks to the Sisters of St. Joseph.
The congregation of nuns, who run the Bay Ridge School, helped to fund the renovations, hoping to change an almost century-long habit of students entering through the back door.
“It’s a little like using the door at the mud room when you have a front door,” Sister Maria Pascuzzi, director of facilities, said.
Sister Pascuzzi said the feature recalls the building’s glamorous past.
The school installed a new glass door, large storefront windows, and a small garden around their statue of St. Joseph.
“It returns the school to a kind of air of elegance and beauty,” Sister Pascuzzi said.
The building is one of the few Gilded Age mansions left in Brooklyn.
It was built in the 1880s by American businessman, Diamond Jim Brady, who shared it with a big name in Hollywood.
“He had Ms. Lillian Russell, a famous actress,” Sister Pascuzzi said. “And the legend, whether it’s true or not, is that she was here in this house and remained using this house until he died.”
The sisters bought the building in 1937 and decided to turn it into the all-girls school that stands there today.
The renovation is a celebration of the school’s past and as Principal Rocco Gentile explained it, a way to keep this historic building preserved.
“The roof on the auditorium had slate shingles and those shingles,” Gentile said, “some of them were coming loose and posed a potential risk. If the roof wasn’t fixed, the gymnasium floor could be damaged if there was a leak. So we went ahead and made those investments.”
Now as students return to their classes, they have a new sense of school spirit.
“When I first saw it I thought it was beautiful,” Julie Dicapua, student activities president at Fontbonne Hall Academy, said. “It feels like a school entrance and you just feel like, this is home. It all looks new but the spirit is still there.”
Students at a catholic high school in the Diocese of Brooklyn will soon be stepping back in time.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, according to Deacon Kevin McCormack
A crucifix outside of Sts. Simon and Jude Church has been rededicated.
We’ll have the latest on the beatification of a family of seven from Poland.
Students in Catholic schools in Brooklyn and Queens kicked off their first week of school.
With an influx of migrant children in the city, some are wondering if the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Catholic schools can accommodate them.
Msgr. David Cassato, vicar for schools in the diocese, joins Currents News to answer that question and discuss the progress of Catholic schools in the city.
by Katie Vasquez
A bell echoes down 41st Street in Flushing as a reminder for students at St. Michael’s Catholic Academy that a new school year has begun.
“I’m very proud of ringing the bell,” Chloe Lin, a student at the school, said. “Symbolizes the start for the year, fresh start.”
Its chimes have been ringing for decades, St. Michael’s is one of the oldest Catholic schools in the Diocese of Brooklyn.
It was founded in 1851, but about 100 years into its history, the bell became part of everyday life.
“When the bell started, it was more like an orchestral music went around with it,” Philip Heide, Principal of St. Michael’s Catholic Academy, said. “Nowadays, we play rock ‘n’ roll, but the one thing that has always remained the same is the love at St. Michael’s.”
The world around the school has changed and so has the neighborhood. Flushing is now predominantly Asian and the school boasts the only English/Mandarin dual language program in the Diocese of Brooklyn.
Yet the steady toll of the bell has continued for some 60 years.
Regardless of what language they may learn, the sounds are deeply woven into the memory of every student who has passed through these halls.
Alumnus Walter Avelin said the chimes immediately transport him back to when he was a student in the mid 1960s.
“When that bell rang, everyone stopped what they were doing and froze until they got direction,” Avelin said.
Now all these years later, there is the same call to action, but it’s more than just a sound.
“The bell itself is a bell. It rings and you know it does what it needs to do,” Heide said. “What’s tied to the bell, the memory and the love of St. Michael’s that’s what resonates with everyone.”
One the school hopes to keep ringing into the next century.
It’s the first day of school for students in the Diocese of Brooklyn.
Bishop Robert Brennan greets students at St. Athanasius Catholic Academy in Bensonhurst, on their first day.
The Vicar for Schools, Monsignor David Cassato, sits down with Current News to talk about the goals for the new year– specifically raising test scores.
The Diocese Of Brooklyn is remembering beloved priest, Monsignor Paul Jervis who has passed away at the age of 69.
For revelers at this year’s West Indian Day Parade, the festivities were an opportunity to embrace the culture of the Caribbean islands they descended from.
But for those who are Catholics in the Diocese of Brooklyn, the parade was also an opportunity to celebrate their faith and religion along the Eastern Parkway parade in Crown Heights.
Bishop Robert Brennan celebrated Mass before he and dozens of parishioners from St. Matthew’s Parish joined thousands of others who were in attendance for the celebration, which is in its second year back, since the COVID-19 pandemic had halted the festivities in 2020 and 2021.
“I appreciated the opportunity to be among the people at St. Matthew Catholic Church to celebrate Mass prior to the West Indian Day Parade this morning on Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn,” Bishop Brennan said on X, formerly known as Twitter. “As I said at Mass, let’s go forth as God sends us forward, to be a blessing to the world.”
Members of the diocese wore red T-shirts and sang worship music throughout the celebration. They waved the flags of their respective native Caribbean islands as they made their way across the parkway toward Grand Army Plaza in Prospect Park.
Pope Francis is back at the Vatican after his Labor Day weekend trip to Mongolia.
It’s the latest in the holy father’s efforts to reach out to the peripheries.
Mongolia is home to just three churches and fewer than 1500 Catholics.
During his flight back to Rome, Pope Francis talked about some future trips.
John Allen, the editor of Crux, joins Currents News from St. Peter’s Square to talk about the pope’s trip and future travel plans.
By Jessica Easthope
Jessica Jerez knows how important the role of a teacher can be in a child’s life.
She’s a new mom and this year she designed her kindergarten classroom at Our Lady of Sorrows in Corona, Queens, to be a place where she would want her daughter to feel safe, happy and educated.
“This is my first year in this classroom,” Jerez said. “You come in new, you meet the students, you create a bond with them, you’re with them all day, more than they are at home, so for me making the classroom homey and setting the tone in September, it was important to me.”
Soon, 20 four- and five-year-olds will come here every day to learn, but Jerez said she wants her classroom to also be a second home, one she takes pride in and puts her all into.
“It’s important to invest in your classroom, they’re like my children,”Jerez said. “When I decorate the classroom and I look for supplies I try to find things that I know, having a daughter now, I would want my child in this classroom, how can I make this classroom beautiful and welcoming, so they feel comfortable.”
Setting up her classroom this year has been a family affair. For the last month Jerez has brought her husband, their baby, her sister, and sister in-law in to help make it shine.
“I’ve always been a visual learner and I know Jessica has a lot of visual stuff,” Fatima Rosales, Jerez’s sister-in-law, said. “And it’s going to help with the kids a lot.”
The walls, floor, library, and marker boards are all products of their hard work — and of Jerez’s hard-earned money.
“Dollar Tree is my best friend,” Jerez said. “I like to go to garage sales, Facebook Marketplace, Amazon too, when they have deals, but I’m a couponer.”
“I’m always there to help her,” Kevin Rosales, Jerez’s husband, said. “She says ‘Oh, I want this, I want my classroom to be a safe haven for the kids,’” Rosales said. “Whatever it takes I’m always there to support her 100%.”
Not only does Jerez spend her own money on the decorations and colorful items you see in her classroom, but she also does it for learning resources. She said in a school like Our Lady of Sorrows, where 98% of students are undocumented immigrants who speak English as a second language, this can make a big difference.
“My goals are having the students know their numbers 1 to 100 and getting their proficiency in reading, but every child learns differently,” Jerez said. “If I can get one child who wasn’t able to write their name at the beginning of the year, writing their name, I’ll be happy.”
Jerez’s favorite part of her classroom isn’t the most colorful or the biggest but the most meaningful.
“I get these books to teach kids about Jesus at their level,” Jerez said.
She knows no matter what challenges lie ahead she has her faith to guide her, and she’s looking forward to a great year in her new classroom.