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Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Academy Students Write Letters of Support to West Coast First Responders

by Katie Vasquez

Firefighters in the Los Angeles area are overwhelmed as flames destroy property and lives on the West Coast, and those on the East Coast watch in horror.

“To see it destroyed like that, it’s devastating. just devastating to me,” said Janice Ray, a 1st grade teacher’s assistant at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Academy. 

“Every day just gets worse and worse. It’s really bad. I feel really sorry for the animals and people over there,” said Mason Clinton, a 6th grader at the school.

It’s why all 300 students at the Forest Hills school are starting Catholic Schools Week with a show of support, writing letters to California first responders and members of the Pasadena Humane Society.

“Thank you for saving our beloved animals from the wildfires,” wrote 3rd grader Samuel Ortiz. “You protect the animals and give them shelter. They are part of our ecosystem.” 

The older students guided the younger ones in their penmanship, passing down their knowledge and a lesson in charity.

“I feel like the first responders over there will really enjoy them. and it will give them motivation, because coming from a whole school, it’s just amazing,” said Mohit Kapoor, an 8th grader at the school.

Some students also turned into support animals, donating two dollars to dress down as furry friends.

Jan. 28 was service day as part of Catholic Schools Week, and the school was happy to spread the lesson.

 “We teach religion in the school, you teach kindness and being helpful and so on and so forth. But this actually is a lesson where they’re actually doing something hands-on and they’re very, very excited about,” said Ray. 

It’s one that just might be sinking in for these students.

“I didn’t dress up as an animal because I didn’t have any animal stuff, but I still donated money,” said 8th grader at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Academy, Matthew Stalzer. 

Our Lady of Mercy anticipates they will donate a total of $1,000 to the Pasadena Humane Society, and all the letters will be mailed out by the end of the week.

Bishop Robert Brennan Takes a Closer Look at St. Andrew Avellino Catholic Academy

By Jessica Easthope

St. Andrew Avellino Catholic Academy is hoping to show Bishop Robert Brennan they’re a cut above the rest.  Bishop Brennan visited the Flushing, Queens, school Jan. 28 to celebrate Catholic Schools Week to cut the ribbon and bless a new art room and STEM lab.

“We blend together the arts and sciences, the academic learning, but with that sense of faith, with the sense of friendship with Jesus Christ,” Bishop Brennan said.

The day started out with a greeting and came full circle for the eighth graders who had their class rings blessed by the bishop during Mass, a special moment for pastor, Father Gregory McIlhenney.

“To have Bishop Brennan come and to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and tie all these things together just brings that Catholic identity and that foundation that we stand on as Christians here to northeast Flushing,” Fr. McIlhenney said.

The highlight of the day happened when the school came under the microscope. Bishop Brennan took a closer look with sixth graders who were examining threads.

“He’s spending time with us in the church, around the school, he’s blessing the new first floor, all the classrooms, the STEM lab, the art room. It’s helping us grow closer to God, so Catholic Schools Week, it’s one of my favorite weeks in the whole school year,” said sixth grader Matthew Albanese.

Principal Debbie Hanna said the bishop’s visit tied in the national theme of Catholic Schools Week, “United in Faith and Community.”

“He spent the most time in the STEM lab, and he went over to every table and he looked in the microscopes, and he engaged with the kids. And I said, ‘Well, this is an a-ha moment.’ He’s here, it’s happening and he’s happy to be with us. And I was really happy that he was,” Hanna said.

Bishop Brennan will also be visiting Good Shepherd, St. Stanislaus Kostka in Greenpoint, and Resurrection-Ascension Catholic Academies during Catholic Schools Week.

TONIGHT AT 7: St. Andrew Avellino Catholic Academy Unveils New STEM Lab

By Currents News

The Queens Catholic Academy is under the microscope as we mark Catholic Schools Week in the Diocese of Brooklyn. Bishop Robert Brennan is blessing a new lab that will help students succeed in math and science. Meanwhile, schools across Brooklyn and Queens are showcasing the quality experience of a Catholic education.

How a Jewish Boy Found Safety in the Catholic Church During the Holocaust

By Katie Vasquez

It’s been nearly 15 years since Mireille Taub lost the love of her life, David.

They were married for 52 years and shared the experience of being Jewish in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. 

“They had to wear stars of David… food was rationed…they couldn’t use public transportation of any kind,” she says of the experience of Jews living in France at the time. “Not allowed into the theaters, into the parks, public places.”

When David was 10-years-old his mother sent him 400 miles away to the French countryside to live with a family she trusted. One day he received a visit from a Catholic priest, Father Darius Durand, that changed his life. 

“He said, ‘I expect to see you at church tomorrow.’ And David, who is very outspoken like his mother had been, said, ‘I’m not converting.’  And the priest said to him, ‘I don’t expect you to convert. I expect to save your life.’” Mireille says.

David became a fixture at the local church as an altar server and also participated in the Catholic Boy Scouts. 

“I think he also loved being part of a group where he was accepted,” explains Mireille. “And that was very important to a little boy who was afraid he’d lose his identity.”

When the war ended David returned to his parents in Paris, but shortly after he received a letter from Father Durand. 

“The persecution will have matured your soul and while you’ve given me the opportunity to get to know you and perhaps to be somewhat good to you, I keep a very good memory of you and of the good example that you have given to your little friends,” the letter reads.

Decades later, when David was 75-years-old, he wrote how the French priest was a blessing during a horrific time. 

“I kept this letter so many years because he was so important to me during that time,” David wrote.

Mireille knows how much Father Durand’s compassion meant during a period when there was little: “He definitely appreciated the priest, his kindness and his concern for him,” she says. “Isn’t that what humans are supposed to do? Be concerned. And the great horror of war, that war, otherwise, is that a respect for human life is totally abandoned.”

Holocaust Survivor Hidden By Catholics Recounts Her Life During World War II

By Jessica Easthope

A picture is all Esther Maidenbaum has left of her mother. It shows a Jewish family who lived and worked in Paris, at the time not knowing the horror that lay ahead of them.

“The way I feel it’s regrettable, but I’m still glad I’m still here to tell about it,” she tells Currents News.

Today, at 89-years-old, Esther shares her story to honor her parents who were both taken to Auschwitz, the complex of concentration camps known as the most brutal during World War II.

“They knew he was a hairdresser. He used to cut the officers’ hair and that saved his life,” she says of her father. “They gave him that piece of bread once in a while. He survived, but it took a long time to be back like a human being.”

Her father survived, but her mother did not. She was one of the 1.1 million Jews who were killed in Auschwitz.

“She was an accountant. She worked for a big firm and somebody must have reported her,” Esther explains. “She was taken in the daytime from her work to go to camp. She didn’t have time to say anything. They just grabbed her and my grandmother. And just from what we heard, after they threw them in the gas chamber.”

In 1940 when the Nazis began to round up jews in France, Esther’s mom sent her and her younger sister into hiding. She handed them off to a priest, and from there the two girls were taken to a small village in Normandy to stay with a Catholic family.

“He had the whole organization in Paris to hide the children,” she recalls of her experience. “We went to church and went to Catholic school. We were like part of the family. As a matter of fact, the Germans came to the house. And when she saw the boots from far away, she took our papers and threw them into the stove to save our lives.”

Esther went on to live a successful life. She moved to the states with her husband Alber in 1963 and settled in Brooklyn. She worked in finance, raised a family, and shared her story whenever she could.

As the world marks 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz, Esther prays history doesn’t repeat itself.

“It’s hard because now there’s so much anti-semitism for no reason. The people insult Jewish people.”

Esther’s story lives on through her memories and with her family. She never visited Auschwitz, and never will. For her, she already knows too much. 

Replica of Anne Frank House Opens in New York City

By Katie Vasquez 

As World War II raged across Europe a young Jewish girl named Anne Frank hid with her family in the annex of her father’s company in Amsterdam, all the while writing a diary that would be translated into 75 languages.

The home in the Netherlands receives a million visitors a year with the executive director estimating that 25% of visitors come from the United States.

“Tickets sell out very quickly,” Ronald Leopold, executive director of the Anne Frank House, tells Currents News. “So we have been thinking for a longer period of time what we could offer to those audiences who are not able to visit the house itself.”

A complete replica of the space is now available at the Center for Jewish History for the public to view, including the desk where she wrote her diary.

The exhibit also shares never before seen artifacts like poetry written by Anne, as well as family photos to offer context of what shaped the young girl’s life.

 “I think they really do make it physically tangible that this girl who we – of course – know from the diary, did have a real physical existence,” Gavriel Rosenfeld, president of the Center for Jewish History.

The exhibition comes at a time when anti-semitism is at an all time high. Organizers say it emphasizes the need to share Anne Frank’s experience. 

“We’re very convinced that having a fuller understanding of the complexities of history gives us an opportunity to talk and foster conversation with people who might not always see eye to eye on things,” Rosenfeld tells Currents News.

The center has invited 350 schools, some from as far away as California, to educate young people with a curriculum developed by the Anne Frank Center at the University of South Carolina. 

“Young people’s voices matter. Young people may not always realize that, but it was a 13, 14 year old girl who has inspired this exhibit,” says Doyle Stevick, executive director of the Anne Frank Center at USC. 

While Anne and her family are the focus of this exhibit, organizers don’t want people to forget all the others.

“She was just one of 1.5 million Jewish children who were murdered during the Holocaust,” says Leopold, “and many of whom we don’t know anything about them.”

Anne Frank: The Exhibition will run through April 30, 2025. 

Currents News Special – March for Life 2025

Thousands joined the March for Life in Washington, D.C., including Vice President JD Vance.
The Diocese of Brooklyn also took part, following a powerful route from the Washington Monument to the Supreme Court.One woman who had an abortion is now helping families in need with her organization, Mercy House.

Six-year-old Noah Jacob is inspiring inclusivity through his modeling career after his mother decided to choose

Filled With Hope by New Presidential Administration, Diocese of Brooklyn Parishioners March For Life

By Katie Vasquez

Washington D.C.’s National Mall was flooded with tens of thousands of pro-lifers Jan. 24.

In this post-Roe v. Wade America, they marched with a common goal: to defend the rights of the unborn. They marched with a purpose past the Capitol building and all the way to the Supreme Court. 

The March For Life started in faith as thousands celebrated Mass with Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The shepherd of the Diocese of Brooklyn urged the people in prayer to value all human life. 

“Whenever some lives become expendable, then all of life is expendable,” he explained. “But at the same time, it’s very important to apply that principle to our teachings about overcoming racism and anti-semitism, about our care for our neighbors.”

At a rally ahead of the march President Donald Trump commended the crowd for their efforts in saving babies in the womb in a video message.

“Thanks to your tireless work and devotion over five decades, that historic wrong was set right three years ago,” he said in his address.

Vice President JD Vance sent an in person message of hope for the future of the fight: “I want more babies in the United States of America. I want more happy children in our country.”

Diocese of Brooklyn marchers felt encouraged by the new administration. 

“We have a president who loves children, your family.,” Ramon Quinn-Ramirez, a parishioner at Holy Innocents Church in Brooklyn, told Currents News. “That’s why we’re here, because a new regime has taken over. And I think one of life and not of death

“I’m encouraged,” agreed Maria Cardena who attends St. Mark Church in Brooklyn. “The fact that he’s bringing back God and with God, anything could happen. And that’s what we’re hoping for the children. So that is a big hope for many of us that God is back in the picture and we could expect, hope, that one day this will end.”

Whether they could be there in person or not, Bishop Brennan knows that the Diocese of Brooklyn is committed to protecting the lives of the unborn year round. 

“People are witnessing to life in so many ways back at home to the families in need, through the parish outreach programs, through groups like Bridge For Life,” he explained. “I want to say thanks to everyone here, thanks for what they do.”

The fight to make abortion unthinkable continued as pilgrims returned home, with many getting ready for their own state marches and even more planning to keep this momentum going by praying and protecting babies in the womb however they can.