St. Francis College Pledges Commitment to Diversity After Supreme Court Rejects Affirmative Action

By Jessica Easthope

Sabrina Tayeh isn’t Catholic, she’s a practicing Muslim, but at St. Francis College her faith is accepted and embraced.

As a rising sophomore, Sabrina says she remembers applying to St. Francis, knowing she was being looked at as an individual.

“It made my admission here more genuine, it was more about who I was and getting to know me and my experiences before that.”

That’s how St. Francis College looks at every prospective student, regardless of race, religion or financial status. Robert Oliva the vice president of enrollment management says in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning affirmative action, St. Francis is more committed than ever to inclusion.

“Overturning affirmative action has actually allowed St. Francis College to reaffirm and double down on our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, values that are intrinsically Franciscan,” Oliva said.

At St. Francis college 65 percent of the school are students of color and every student admitted receives some kind of tuition assistance. Figures Ali Scott the director of marketing, government relations and community affairs says are some of the ways the school keeps to its Franciscan values.

“We are about making sure everyone has an opportunity to get the education they deserve,” said Scott.

After the decision, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called on Catholic colleges and universities to uphold their commitment to education access.

“It is our hope that our Catholic institutions of higher learning will continue to find ways to make education possible and affordable for everyone, regardless of their background,” read a USCCB statement.

And Sabrina says maybe the decision will force other colleges to do what St. Francis has done all along.

“I think that this will have an opportunity for colleges to actually get to know the people that they’re admitting more rather than just the statistics they have on paper,” she said.

Sabrina works in the admissions office, she says if anyone applying to college feels like supreme court decision hurts their chances, St. Francis College might be the place for you.

Catholic News Headlines for Tuesday 07/18/2023

After the Supreme Court voted to overturn affirmative action, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called on Catholic Colleges and Universities to uphold their commitment to education access.

The Pope’s peace envoy is meeting with President Joe Biden today.

Pope Francis will travel to Mongolia on August 31,making him the first-ever papal to visit the country.

Pope Francis will also travel to Portugal to attend World Youth Day.

Currents News Receives Two Regional Emmy Nominations

The Currents News team has received two regional Emmy nominations.

The newscast is nominated for the “Best Evening Newscast” and “Human Interest Story” categories.

The awards will be announced in October.

Brooklyn Teen From St. Athanasius Credits Scouting For His Baptism As a Catholic

A Brooklyn Boy Scout has earned his merit badge in faith.

Jake Harmon, 16, said the scouts have not only taught him how to tie ropes and build a fire, they’ve helped him learn about the Catholic faith.

It’s the reason he is now a baptized Catholic today.

The young teen grew up in a mixed-faith household. His parents let him decide what religion he wanted to pursue.

After finishing the Catholic award, Harmon decided to pursue the faith.

The young teen took religious education courses at his home parish of St. Athanasius in Bensonhurst.

“At the end of it I realized I wanted to be Catholic for the rest of my life,” said Harmon.

Currents News Katie Vasquez caught up with Harmon in Narrowsburg, up in the Catskill Mountains, where the new Catholic was attending the yearly pilgrimage to Ten Mile River Scout Camp.

Up in the Catskill Mountains, three hours from Brooklyn, a group of Boy Scouts celebrated their faith.

Every year, they make the trek up to Ten Mile River scout camp, connecting with nature and God as Bishop Robert Brennan celebrated a special mass.

But this year for scout, Jake Harmon, the mass felt different. He was baptized during the Easter vigil last April.

“My mom is Catholic and my dad is Jewish,” said Harmon, “they didn’t want to push religion on us because they wanted us to choose because they both had different opinions.”

The 16-year-old said scouting helped him first learn about Catholicism.

“The big part about scouting and the sash I wear is giving back not only to the camps and the community and that kind of reflects a lot with the catholic faith and helping everyone around you,” said Harmon.

But the big pull to decide his beliefs came after he asked his Troop 99 leader, Brian Long, about a special award for the Catholic faith.

“He asked me if he could take the Catholic religion award, I told him yea. But he says I’m half Jewish, half Catholic. I says well you can go for the Catholic award and the

Jewish award then you can make the decision on which faith you want,” said Long.

After finishing the Catholic award, Jake decided to pursue the faith. He took religious education courses at his home parish of St. Athanasius in Bensonhurst.

“At the end of it I realized I wanted to be catholic for the rest of my life,” said Harmon.

His interest in Catholicism even spread to his family, first reaching his brother, who is also a scout.

Then they convinced their sister.

“We came to her and said we want to do this, is this something you want to do? she saw that we found ourselves in it and that she wanted to join us,” said Harmon.

Bishop Brennan said stories like Jake’s highlight all the good scouting can do.

“It shows you some of the contributions that this experience of scouting can do, because one of the things that happens here is that a young person discovers more about themselves and who they are and faith life being part of that and he really discovered his catholic faith being here,” said Brennan.

Now Jake is wearing his faith like a badge of honor. He is currently pursuing the second part of the Catholic religion award which involves reflecting on this time, from baptism to his new life as a Catholic.

Cardinal-Elect Christophe Pierre Celebrates Feast Day in Astoria

On a rainy Sunday a week after being named a Cardinal, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States, found himself at a Queens parish celebrating Mass for the feast day of its namesake, as if nothing had changed.

Cardinal-designate Pierre celebrated Mass and participated in a procession at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, on what was the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on Sunday, July 16,. The presence of the pope’s U.S. representative at the Mass was certainly unique, but something he said is important to his ministry.

Cardinal-designate Pierre, 77, is from Rennes, France. He has been apostolic nuncio to the United States since 2016. Prior to that, he was a nuncio in Uganda, Haiti, and Mexico. In his role he has many times delivered the news to priests of their bishop appointments, but didn’t expect to get the call himself.

Lower Manhattan Church, Our Lady of Rosary, Vandalized In Latest Series of Attacks

For the second time in as many weekends there was an attack against a Catholic church in New York City.

Walter Chisolm, 42, allegedly broke into Our Lady of Rosary Catholic Church through a window and entered its shrine to Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, where he damaged a large crucifix, on Saturday, July 15, according to an NYPD spokesperson.

Chisolm, who was wearing a purple priestly vestment robe and no pants, was arrested for vandalizing the Manhattan shrine to the first American Catholic saint.

He attacked a responding officer, striking him in the face, causing minor injuries, according to the NYPD.

Catholic News Headlines for Monday 07/17/2023

A man was arrested over the weekend for vandalizing a Manhattan church.

Mayor Eric Adams has appointed Edward Caban as the new Nypd Police Commissioner.

Mayor Eric Adams has a new plan to house migrants who continue to arrive in the city.

Bishop Robert Brennan visited Ten Mile River Scout Camp in the Catskill Mountains for a special Mass.

Catholic News Headlines for Friday 07/14/2023

Young Catholic pilgrims from around the globe are getting ready to jetset off to Lisbon, Portugal for World Youth Day 2023.

We’ll be introducing you to some of the pilgrims coming from the Diocese of Brooklyn, including Bella Wagner, who will need a little extra room in her suitcase.

Accompanying the masses of young people will be 2,600 priests, all prepared to hear confessions.

It wouldn’t be World Youth Day without an official hymn. Each event has its own unique sound reflecting on the theme of the pilgrimage.

St. Athanasius’ Operation Struggles To Feed Community, Needs Food Pantry Funding

In May 2022, the food pantry at St. Athanasius Church was in peril, facing a shortfall in emergency pandemic funding that threatened to force it to close and terminate its ability to serve upward of 200 local families.

A little over a year later, the food pantry has survived, under new leadership, but faces new challenges reflecting those facing New York City as a whole.

Inflation has driven food prices up 5.2% across the city in the past 12 months according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and volunteers at St. Athanasius find themselves struggling to feed a community that needs more than they have the funding to serve.

New Reunification Program Allows Migrants to Join Their Family in the United States

El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz, the U.S. bishops’ conference migration committee chair, applauded the federal government for its new migrant family reunification program, but simultaneously cautioned that comprehensive immigration reform from Congress remains the only sustainable path forward.

The family reunification program, implemented by the Department of Homeland Security July 7, allows qualified nationals from Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to join their family in the United States and be considered for parole on a case-by-case basis for a period of up to three years while they wait to apply to become a lawful permanent resident.

The Tablet’s John Lavenburg joins Currents News to talk more about the new program and what it all means.