She is a daughter of the Diocese of Brooklyn, educated in its Catholic schools, who went on to become a nationally recognized journalist.
Patti Ann Browne delivered the news on Fox News Channel, MSNBC and other networks.
Now she’s getting personal in a memoir called “Write Your Own Story – How I Took Control By Letting Go.”
Patti Ann joins Currents News to give us a sneak peek of her book that is available on Amazon now.
By Rhina Guidos
WASHINGTON (CNS) — As authorities in Florida continued rescue efforts, Catholic parishes and dioceses in the U.S. moved rapidly to collect aid in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, and U.S. President Joe Biden said it could take years to rebuild what was destroyed.
Though Ian was downgraded to a tropical storm after wrecking swaths of Florida, it regained strength and regrouped as a hurricane before heading toward South Carolina.
Biden approved an emergency declaration to send federal help before it made landfall in Charleston Sept. 30. Residents of Florida and the Carolinas face a recovery estimated to cost tens of billions of dollars.
As of Oct. 2, at least 80 people were confirmed dead, and more than 1,600 people had been rescued in parts of southwest and central Florida.
The Diocese of St. Petersburg, Florida, will hold a special collection at its parishes in October to help with the damage, including in the neighboring Diocese of Venice and is asking for others to help at https://www.dosp.org/disasterrelief.
“Our hearts are moved with compassion for all those who have suffered damage and destruction due to Hurricane Ian, especially our brothers and sisters in the Diocese of Venice,” St. Petersburg’s Bishop Gregory L. Parkes said of the diocese that suffered the brunt of the damage.
Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, called on Catholics and all people of goodwill to pray for those who lost their lives in the Caribbean and the southwest United States due to Hurricane Ian.
He urged prayers “for the comfort of their grieving families and communities” as well as prayers for those who have lost their homes and businesses. “May they find peace and comfort in God’s enduring love for us, even amid these most trying circumstances,” he said.
In a statement released late Sept. 30, the archbishop also prayed the emergency responders would be kept “from harm as they seek to bring relief, comfort and healing” to storm victims.
At a news conference Sept. 30, Biden told Floridians that the federal government would do all it could to help, particularly to rescue people and other recovery efforts.
He also announced that 44,000 utility workers were working to restore electricity for those left without power since the hurricane struck.
In preparing for Ian, the Florida Division of Emergency Management said it had coordinated with utility companies to make sure crews were prepared “to respond and restore power.”
As of Oct. 2, 590,000 people were still without power in Florida, but that figure was a significant reduction from the nearly 2 million who had no power immediately after Hurricane Ian struck.
“It’s not a crisis for Florida, it’s an American crisis,” Biden said during the news conference.
He said the situation on the ground was “far more devastating” than initially believed and “is likely to rank among the worst in the nation’s history.”
The president and first lady Jill Biden were visiting Puerto Rico Oct. 3 to see the devastation wrought by Hurricane Fiona, which slammed into the island a week before Ian hit Florida. The Bidens planned to visit Florida Oct. 5.
In the Diocese of Venice, Bishop Frank J. Dewane gave thanks via Twitter for those who prayed for people in the path of the Hurricane Ian.
“Damage is still being assessed, but it is clear that the devastation in the Diocese is widespread,” he wrote. “There are several crews already at work throughout the Diocese, and Catholic Charities is putting their local team into action. We are grateful for all those who have helped, and continue to help, during this difficult time.”
Catholic Charities USA is collecting donations at https://ccusa.online/Ian.
In Charleston, South Carolina, Bishop Jacques E. Fabre-Jeune offered Mass hours before the storm made landfall “for the protection of all people affected by Hurricane Ian and especially for our essential personnel working to keep us safe,” the diocese said on its Facebook page.
Ian hit close to 2:30 p.m. local time Sept. 30 as at Category 1 hurricane, flooding historic Charleston, with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph. The storm was later downgraded to a tropical storm as it hit North Carolina.
As the storm went through the Carolinas, about 850,000 people had no electricity but news reports said power was restored to more than half of them by the weekend.
COMMACK — The wake and funeral were scheduled for EMS Lt. Alison Russo-Elling, who died last week in a random attack near her station in Astoria
The wake will be held from 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. both Monday and Tuesday at Commack Abbey Funeral Home, 96 Commack Road, Commack, New York. Her funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday at Tilles Center for Performing Arts, 720 Northern Blvd., in Brookville, New York.
Russo-Elling, 61, died Thursday after suffering more than 20 stab wounds during the attack at the corner of 20th Avenue and 41st Street, near her assigned EMS Station, No. 49.
The lieutenant was in uniform as she ventured from the station to get lunch from a nearby deli. She died at Mount Sinai Queens Hospital.
Fire department officials announced her funeral arrangements on the FDNY’s social media channels. Officials noted that parking for personal vehicles at the funeral home during the wake is reserved for Russo-Elling’s family and close friends.
Additional details about the funeral were not available earlier today. However, Msgr. Jamie Gigantiello, a chaplain for the FDNY, said the funeral would be a traditional service held for line-of-duty deaths. These rites include an elaborate procession from the funeral to the internment.
High attendance is expected from public safety personnel and elected officials from New York City and the rest of the nation.
Russo-Elling, a mother and grandmother, was six months short of retirement. She served with the FDNY for 25 years and was among the first responders to the 9/11 terror attacks.
Russo-Elling is the third FDNY member to die this year while on duty.
Firefighter Jesse Gerhard collapsed at his firehouse while on duty in Far Rockaway on Feb. 16.
Timothy Klein, also a firefighter, died on April 24. He suffered fatal injuries while battling a house fire in Canarsie.
Police arrested a suspect, Peter Zisopoulos, 34, Thursday, soon after the attack. He was charged with murder on Friday. Zisopoulos reportedly is mentally disturbed.
Reverend Christopher Heanue’s Homily from Sunday’s Mass on 10/2/22
New York City police are investigating the fatal stabbing of a veteran FDNY EMS lieutenant.
After wreaking havoc on Florida, Hurricane Ian is now battering the Carolinas.
A retired NYPD detective has been named the new Victim Assistance Coordinator in the Diocese of Brooklyn.
By Jessica Easthope
They look like old friends catching up, and many of them are. Meeting like this, away from their parishes, the city, and the needs of their people – is rare. It only happens every three years. It’s called an away convocation, Father Joseph Fonti has been running them for 15 years.
This time, more than 250 priests traveled to the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception for a chance to get back to the basics of priesthood – fraternity and faith. Father Fonti says over the years priests have been able to overcome generational and cultural divides.
“The younger guys realize the older men are not that different, similar with the cultural difference, they come from a different ethnicity and language experience but same one God and true church and love for Jesus Christ and his priesthood,” said Fr. Fonti.
The priests are broken up into two sessions over the week. On Wednesday, the groups overlap and come together for meals and a talk by Bishop Robert Brennan.
“We’re unified as brothers in mission and we share a common call, God in his providence put us together on the same team,” said Bishop Brennan.
Priestly fraternity is the theme of this year’s convocation. Monsignor Joseph Calise has been to four of them.
“What I would really want a new priest to get out of this is the feeling that he belongs with us, that there is a fraternity, a feeling of being welcome, especially those priests coming from other countries,” he said.
For others like Father Elvin Torres, who was ordained last year, it’s brand new.
“Their wisdom, their experience, it’s a lot, I’m just starting right now so to share with them their experience of the priesthood is amazing,” said Fr. Torres.
The priests also heard a keynote speech from Monsignor James Shea, the president of the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota and an author.
“Priests need to be well informed about what’s happening in the culture but also focus not upon just maintaining the way we’ve always done things but transforming strategically the way we’re proceeding,” said Monsignor Shea.
Father Fonti is looking to plan more events throughout the diocese and hopes to hold away convocations more often.
The scope of Hurricane Ian’s destruction in Florida is only starting to be realized tonight.
President Joe Biden said he expects a “substantial loss of life.”
And, Catholic Charities USA say they have response teams in place ready to face the devastation.
By Rhina Guidos
WASHINGTON (CNS) — It’s too early to tell the extent of Hurricane Ian’s damage in the Catholic dioceses of Venice and St. Petersburg or the rest of the Sunshine State for that matter, but President Joe Biden in a Sept. 29 news conference said it is likely to rank as “one of the deadliest hurricanes in Florida history.”
“The numbers … are still unclear, but we’re hearing early reports of what may be substantial loss of life,” the president said.
No fatalities were reported early Sept. 29, but authorities were just beginning a search and rescue efforts, which were hampered by debris strewn on roads and bridges damaged by Ian’s 155 mph winds when it lashed Florida Sept. 28 and 29.
“We know many families, many, many, are hurting today and our entire country hurts with them,” Biden said during the news conference at the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Washington.
He promised to visit at a future date so as not to disturb initial rescue efforts but pledged financial help from the federal government to help Florida recover.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in a Sept. 29 news conference in Tallahassee said the impact of Hurricane Ian in his state is historic. He reported that upward of 2 million people were without electricity in the state.
“The damage that was done has been historic and this is just off initial assessments. … We’ve never seen a flood event like this. We’ve never seen a storm surge of this magnitude,” he said.
Organizations such as Catholic Charities USA said they have their response teams in place to deal with the aftermath of the massive Category 4 storm that lashed western and central Florida.
Even in a state used to powerful storms, Ian’s destruction managed to shock, leaving mementos of its might in the form of cars battered by winds and water, left floating in flooded city streets next to uprooted trees and parts of roofs torn from buildings in the cities of Fort Myers, Tampa and Punta Gorda.
Part of a bridge that connected Sanibel Island to the mainland of Florida collapsed.
In a series of updates for the Tampa Bay Times, reporter Zachary T. Sampson wrote Sept. 29: “In Fort Myers Beach, emergency officials expect to find bodies in the rubble. They know people did not all heed the evacuation orders.”
Dioceses in the affected areas closed their churches, schools and other gathering centers. The Diocese of Venice posted a video of the Servant Sisters of the Virgin of Matara Sept. 28 as volunteers helped board up windows at St. Michael Church in Wauchula in the northern part of the diocese.
There were no updates on social media or on the websites of those dioceses early Sept. 29.
Bishop Gregory L. Parkes of St. Petersburg, which includes Tampa, and Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice had asked for prayers, knowing their diocesan territories were in the crosshairs of the storm.
Some other U.S. bishops kept an eye on the hurricane and offered solidarity with the people of Florida.
“We pray for all people in Florida, especially for people’s lives affected,” wrote Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller of San Antonio on Twitter just before the hurricane made landfall. “May you, Lord, be their strength! We do not control everything.”
More than 2 million were still without electricity as the hurricane, downgraded to a tropical storm early Sept. 29, headed north toward Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Family members desperately posted on Twitter asking for updates on conditions in places such as Venice, close to where the storm made landfall and where many remain without communication.
Authorities began to survey the damage early Sept. 29, looking for those who had not managed to leave before the hurricane hit. They asked those who stayed in their homes to remain indoors as officials were conducting water rescues but still struggling to make their way amid debris and remaining flooding and wind.
Catholic Charities USA said in a statement that its disaster response teams “have a long history of mobilizing quickly to meet the needs of those affected by catastrophic events in the U.S. and its territories.”
The organization encouraged donations at https://ccusa.online/Ian for efforts to help those dealing with the storm’s destruction.
DeSantis said Sept. 28 that recovery efforts need financial assistance, and asked people to refrain from sending items, such as clothes, to Florida and send economic help or volunteer instead.
He also said he asked Biden for a major disaster declaration for the federal government to pay for recovery efforts in the state, which the president responded to by stating in his news conference that the government would help Florida.
In Cuba, where Ian wreaked havoc Sept. 27 before heading to Florida, the diocese most affected posted Sept. 28 on Facebook photos of widespread damage, destroyed crops, torn roofs and collapsed buildings in Pinar del Rio, where children were helping with cleanup efforts at Catholic churches.
News agency EFE said three fatalities were reported on the island as of Sept. 29 and Cuba remains largely without electricity. Its tobacco crop, famous for the island’s cigars, has been damaged.
“The images are devastating. A people mired in misery and despair now face the onslaught of a natural phenomenon of great magnitude,” said a post on the Facebook page of the Diocese of Pinar del Rio, where the hurricane made landfall. “Hurricane Ian has destroyed homes, crops, (government centers, etc.) but it has also sown sadness and desolation.”
The post said cisterns were damaged, along with windows and roofs, and personal property in many homes. What precious little people had has been taken, the post said, adding that “in the midst of it all, there is sadness and worry about a very uncertain future.”
“This is how the Diocese of Pinar del Río is today,” the post said, but added that “in the midst of this reality, the church wants to be present to tell us that we are not alone, that God has not abandoned us.”
In Bahrain, Christians make up about 14% of the majority-Muslim country’s overall population. Joining Currents News to talk more about the Holy Father’s planned trip is Elise Allen, senior correspondent for Crux.
Ian is no longer a hurricane this morning but is still very much a threat to Florida. It’s now a tropical storm after slamming Florida’s southwest coast with 155 mile per hour winds and record-breaking storm surge. Now, central Florida and the east coast are in Ian’s path.