Students Can Take College Courses at TMLA as Freshmen & It’s Giving Them an Advantage on Admissions

Carin Hennis wants to go into emergency medicine. She’s only 17, but says the sky is the limit and The Mary Louis Academy set her trajectory.

Carin said when the time came to choose the college of her dreams, she was prepared.

“I’ve learned study habits that kind of when I explain to my other friends from other schools they’re kind of like oh no, I wouldn’t put that much effort because maybe their school isn’t pushing them as hard,” she said.

Principal, Ann O’Hagan-Cordes says the school has a 100 percent graduation rate and everyone goes off to college, ready.

“Everything we do is about helping our students graduate to the best of her ability so that she will go out into this world and make the changes we need,” she said.

That’s a stark difference from the current state of New York City’s public schools. A whopping 47 percent of DOE graduates, who were headed for a city university, had to take remedial classes. An audit by the state comptroller’s office also found that only 57 percent of DOE graduates are college ready.

At Mary Louis, students have the option of taking college classes starting as early as freshman year. Out of the 200 who graduated in 2022, they earned more than 70 million dollars in merit-based-scholarships.

“Advice for my teachers and my counselors has been perfectly tailored specifically for me,” said aspire student Veronica Arty.

“I took the most challenging courses and I think that helped me form good study habits it challenged my brain I learned a lot and I feel really prepared for college,” said Marisa Mamak, also in the aspire program.

Worried she wouldn’t be able to afford any of the top tier schools she’s applying to, the Mary Louis Academy’s Aspire program stepped in. Whatever Carin’s parent’s can’t afford and scholarships don’t cover – an alumna of the school will pay for.

“I can get this quality education by just working hard without having to think about kind of can I even afford this,” she said.

These students say at their school – it’s harder to fail than to succeed.

Finance Prof. on Banking Collapse: ‘It’s Not Clear Why Regulators Didn’t Do Something to Stop It’

On Capitol Hill, lawmakers are demanding answers and calling on U.S. finance regulators to testify following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

Silicon Valley Bank was on the Federal Reserve’s radar for more than a year and was repeatedly warned it wouldn’t have enough cash on hand in the event of trouble.

Yet, the bank still collapsed despite those repeated warnings.

Associate Professor of Finance at Villanova University, John Sedunov, joins Currents News to dig deeper into the banking crisis and how we can protect our money.

‘God Showed Up In A Very Powerful, Powerful Way’: Archdiocese of Hartford Investigating Possible Eucharistic Miracle

(OSV News) — The Archdiocese of Hartford is investigating a possible Eucharistic miracle at one of its parishes, where Communion hosts seemingly multiplied during a March 5 Sunday Mass.

Father Joseph Crowley, pastor of St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish in Thomaston, Connecticut, said in a YouTube livestream of his March 12 homily that an unnamed extraordinary minister of the Eucharist at the previous week’s liturgy had begun to run out of Communion hosts — only to find that “all of a sudden there (were) more hosts in the ciborium.” The St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish is comprised of three church locations — St. Thomas, Immaculate Conception and St. Casimir — and the alleged multiplication of Communion hosts took place at St. Thomas.

The minister continued to distribute the hosts to some “100, 150 people in the congregation,” after which “there was the same amount, if not more hosts” in the ciborium, said Father Crowley, who had celebrated the March 5 liturgy. “What happened is Our Lord multiplied himself. … I have no doubt. I know what I gave the person. I know what (was) returned (to the tabernacle). It was just very obvious and plain to me as to what happened.”

Father Crowley said in his March 12 homily he wanted to tell parishioners “from the horse’s mouth as to exactly what happened,” and “stick to the facts” to avoid confusion.

In a livestream video of his post-Communion remarks at the March 5 liturgy at St. Thomas, a visibly struck Father Crowley said the experience was “very powerful, very awesome, very real, very shocking.”

David Elliott, associate director of communications for the Archdiocese of Hartford, told OSV News that the archdiocesan judicial vicar, Father George S. Mukuka, “has been looking into the possibility of a Eucharistic miracle” at the parish.

Following the investigation, the judicial vicar will prepare a report for Hartford Archbishop Leonard P. Blair, “who will make a determination from there” regarding the event’s supernatural nature, said Elliott.

Several of the seemingly multiplied hosts had been distributed at daily Mass March 6 and 7, but were then kept in reserve as the archdiocesan investigation is still underway, said Father Crowley in his March 12 homily.

He said that the incident — which he described as “one of those moments where God showed up in a very powerful, powerful way” — had stunned him.

“I haven’t been praying for anything like this,” he said. “I’ve heard of this happening. I don’t know of any person out of my 20-plus years of dealing with the church … (and) dealing with hundreds of priests … hundreds, thousands of people, (and) many, many bishops. I know that the Lord can do anything. He does all things for nothing is impossible for God.”

At the same time, “the real miracle is the fact that we’re able to take simple bread and wine, and through the prayers of the church, through the hands of the priest, Christ is made present through transubstantiation,” said Father Crowley. “Our Lord then becomes the flesh and blood hidden under the mere presence of bread and wine.”

Through the apparent multiplication of hosts, “Our Lord gave us one of the best moments of reflection this Lent about himself, about the Eucharist,” said Father Crowley.

Father Crowley acknowledged that people often go through situations where “God seems so removed, so hidden … not part of our everyday moment because we don’t see him.”

“It’s sometimes hard to see a God that seems to be so hidden,” he said. “Perhaps the Lord had done this before, where you just give Communion out and all of a sudden there’s plenty of hosts and you just keep going. But to … be made aware is part of the miracle.”

A local saint in the making also may have played a role, Father Crowley said, since Blessed Michael McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus, served as pastor of St. Thomas Church from 1884 until his death in 1890.

“I think in a very profound way that … because of Blessed McGivney’s life here … it shows that this is a very special place. And it’s important to God,” said Father Crowley. “And I think good things are coming. I think great things are coming.”

As a parishioner pointed out to him, “we’re so easy to accept an act of evil, an act of harm,” but “it’s hard for us to accept an act of goodness or a God moment or a moment with Christ,” said Father Crowley.

“As we move forward, we really need to see our world through the lens of faith, through the eyes of faith,” he said. “And the more we get closer to our Lord, the more we’re going to see him in our everyday lives.”

Texas Bishop Calls for Policy Change After Fire Kills Migrants in Mexican Border Facility

A fire that killed more than three dozen migrants at the National Migration Institute in Ciudad Juárez — the city that borders El Paso along the U.S-Mexico border — on the evening of March 27 was reportedly started by migrants who set mattresses ablaze to protest their pending deportation.

“As a protest, at the door of the shelter, they put mattresses and set them on fire, and they did not imagine that this was going to cause this terrible tragedy,” Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said at a news conference. “We assume it was because they found out they were going to be deported.”

In addition to at least 40 people who died, 29 others were injured and are in “delicate-serious” condition, the institute said in a statement. They added that there were 68 men from Central and South America held in the detention center at the time of the fire.

During Pope Francis’ greeting to Spanish-speaking faithful at his March 29 general audience in St. Peter’s Square, he dedicated a silent prayer to the victims and their families.

“Let us pray for the migrants that died yesterday in a tragic fire in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. May the Lord receive them in his kingdom and console the families,” he said before bowing his head in silence.

Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso said the tragedy “underscores the urgency of addressing the complex humanitarian crisis” at the border.

“Our brother and sister migrants, who are in many cases fleeing extreme violence, persecution, and extreme poverty, deserve dignity, compassion, and the protection of their human rights as children of God,” Bishop Seitz said in a statement. “As a faith community, we are called to respond to their suffering with love, empathy, and support.

“I will continue to call for just and humane immigration policies that respect the dignity and rights of all people,” continued Bishop Seitz, who is the U.S. bishops’ conference migration committee chair.

Bishop Seitz also offered his “deepest and most heartfelt condolences” to the families of the migrants who died and extended “prayers for the swift recovery” of the individuals who were injured.

“As we mourn this devastating loss, I call upon people of all faiths and goodwill to join in prayer for the victims and their families,” Bishop Seitz said. “May our collective efforts lead to meaningful change and help prevent such tragedies from occurring.”

Directly across from El Paso, Ciudad Juárez has long been a hot spot for migrants to gather before they attempt to enter the United States. U.S. Customs and Border Protection have encountered almost 225,000 migrants trying to illegally cross into El Paso between Oct. 1, 2022, and February 2023, according to agency data.

Overall, there have been almost 900,000 total encounters over that time, the data shows.

A few weeks ago, hundreds of migrants — most of them Venezuelans — tried to storm into the U.S. via a bridge connecting Ciudad Juárez and El Paso after rumors circulated that they would be allowed to enter. U.S. border security personnel quickly secured the bridge to stop the attempt.

Dylan Corbett, executive director of the El Paso-based Hope Border Institute — a faith-based immigration advocacy organization that does humanitarian work in both El Paso and Ciudad Juárez — told The Tablet that the fire is a direct result of U.S. pressure on Mexico to up its immigration enforcement, especially at the northern part of the border.

Corbett said Hope has done humanitarian work at the National Migration Institute in Ciudad Juárez in the past, but has not had access in recent months amid the crackdown prompted by the U.S. government.

“We know there’s a direct line that you can draw from the Biden administration pressuring the government of Ciudad Juárez to increase enforcement to the death that we’ve seen,” Corbett said.

“The strategy that we’ve implemented includes as part of its overhead death, so it’s an indictment of our approach,” Corbett continued. “Death can’t be the price of immigration enforcement and there’s nothing stopping us from putting in place a humane and effective and safe process at the border.”

Corbett and other immigration advocates have long been critical of the Biden administration’s border entry deterrent policies that limit migrants’ ability to seek asylum, arguing that they are not just illegal but ineffective given the desperation of many migrants.

They have argued — at a time of record number of migrant crossings at the border — that the administration and Congress need to work on comprehensive reform to the nation’s immigration system and work to address the root causes that force people to migrate in the first place. In the short term, advocates say more effective legal pathways are needed.

“The system we allowed to be created in our name is predicated on pain and death and that is what killed them,” Corbett said. “We have to work to put in place a more just system.”

Bishop Seitz also works with migrants on both sides of the border, calling Ciudad Juárez El Paso’s “sister city.” He said in the aftermath of the fire, he has been in communication with the bishop of Ciudad Juárez.

“I have been in contact with Bishop José Guadalupe Torres Campos, expressed my prayer solidarity with him and the faithful of his diocese, and offered support to him and the people in his pastoral care in the Diocese of Ciudad Juárez,” Bishop Seitz said.

Diocese of Nashville Reaches Out to Community After School Shooting

The Diocese of Nashville offered a special Mass, Monday evening, to help the community process the day’s tragedy.

Bishop Mark Spalding offered Mass to allow people to pray for the victims of the Covenant School shooting.

He reminded them that love will help them get through painful times like this.

The bishop went on to say that people need to come together and not only listen to each other, but to be there for each other during this tragic time.

Jason Grimsley on How He Gained the World and Almost Lost His Soul

Baseball fans are getting excited as the Major League Baseball season is just days away from opening day.

It brings back a lot of memories for former Major League Baseball Player and two-time Yankees World Series Champion, Jason Grimsley.

Grimsley is the author of the newly released “Cross-Stitched: One Man’s Journey From Ruin To Restoration” book, his story about finding God.

Hear why Jason wrote the book, and how he overcame the issues that plague the mental well-being athletes face like failure, depression and guilt.

Catholic News Headlines for Tuesday 3/28/2023

Dozens of migrants are dead after a migration center in Mexico went up in flames.

The Bishop of the Diocese of Nashville presided over a Mass yesterday to pray for the victims of the Covenant School shooting.

The oldest permanent deacon in the Diocese of Brooklyn, John Flannery, still comes three days a week to help out at Holy Family St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Park Slope, despite being retired.

These Are the Six Victims That Lost Their Lives in the Nashville School Shooting

As police continue to gather more evidence on the devastating shooting in Nashville, more information about the victims are beginning to emerge.

As the memorial outside of the covenant school continued to grow, community members left flowers and balloons to remember the six victims.

Three children, each only nine-years-old, were among those who were killed in Monday’s mass shooting.

They were Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kinney, and Hallie Scruggs, the daughter of Chad Scruggs, the pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church, which is connected to the school.

Among the adults who were killed was the head of the school, Katherine Koonce, 60, who parents say knew every single student by name, along with Cynthia Peak, 61, a substitute teacher, and Mike Hill, 61, who was the school’s custodian.

There is no word yet on funeral arrangements for the six victims.

Police Investigate Manifesto and Home of Nashville Shooter

WARNING: The body camera footage of the police encounter with the shooter, Audrey Hale, may be disturbing.

Nashville residents consoled each other and turned to the Church after three children and three adults were killed in the deadliest U.S. school shooting in almost a year.

As their community comes together to mourn the life of the victims, police are now working around the clock to answer questions about the horrific attack.

So far, police say they’ve found a manifesto in the shooter’s car, which was located near the scene of the shooting.

The suspect, identified as Audrey Hale, was in possession of three guns: an AR-15 rifle and two 9-millimeter handguns, with 30-round magazines.

Hale’s weapons were purchased legally, according to authorities. Hale was also under a doctor’s care for an emotional disorder, police said.

“Law enforcement knew nothing of the treatment she was receiving,” John Drake, Nashville Police Chief, said. “But her parents felt she should not own weapons. As it turns out, she had been hiding several weapons within the house.”

John Flannery, One of Diocese of Brooklyn’s Oldest Permanent Deacons, Reflects on Faith Journey

By Jessica Easthope

John Flannery has lived many different lives – he’s been a monk, an Air Force Staff Sergeant, a social worker and a fashion designer – but he’s never been happier than the day his title became deacon.

“I have loved it ever since, I really met some wonderful guys, God has been very good to this old guy really, each assignment and each thing I’ve done every person has pointed me in their own way,” he said.

He joined the Diocese of Brooklyn’s second ever class of permanent deacons and was ordained in 1978. As one of the oldest in the diocese today he’s retired but still comes three days a week to help out at masses at Holy Family-St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Park Slope.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy, it’s a wonderful parish the people are great they’re good and when I say good not just hello and I go to mass on Sunday, they put their faith into practice in how they meet one another,” said Deacon John.

Pastor Holy Family-St. Thomas Aquinas, Fr. Rafael Perez says after all this time and even at 90 years old Deacon John is still needed.

“One of the ways in which his ministry is very much alive and active is presence to people he’s got a tremendously big heart and a lot of wisdom he shares,” said Fr. Rafael.

Fr. Rafael says the people in the pews look to Deacon John as an example of a life of service.

“From the time of his youth until the present his own journey of faith has been extraordinary. One of the things that amazes me about him is his capacity for faith, hope and joy his life embodies that,” he said.

But that life hasn’t always been easy. Deacon John is a recovering alcoholic, he got sober nearly 30 years ago. Now, in his free time, he makes rosaries. Just like the individual beads, each of his life’s experiences have made him who he is today.

“Never regretted one minute the choices I have made,” he said.

Every step lead him here. He has no plans of slowing down and no regrets.