Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI releases a letter responding to the allegations he failed to report priests accused of abuse.
Listening and journeying together – that’s the theme of the synod that has Pope Francis asking for feedback from every Catholic around the globe.
Today is the International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking.
By Jessica Easthope
They’re questions designed to bring about change, some the Church has never asked before. “Who do you think is in charge?” “How can the Church work better with other communities of faith?” And now they’re in digital form.
“They’re going to be asked basic questions that would be asked of any Catholic right now who wants to have a voice,” said Father Joseph Gibino, Vicar for Evangelization and Catechesis.
As the global synod process has gotten underway and parishes have started listening sessions – leaders in the Diocese of Brooklyn are realizing the people they need to reach most are not the regulars.
Sister MaryAnn Seton Lopiccolo, who is leading the diocese’s synod efforts with Father Gibino, says often they’re people who have never come to church and might even feel unwelcome.
“We want to hear from the people who don’t come to the building called the church and from people who don’t feel welcome because those are the voices that are going to change us,” said Sister Maryann, Episcopal Delegate for Religious.
DeSales Media Group, the digital and technology arm of the Diocese that operates NET-TV, has created a digital synod. It starts with videos explaining the topics of the synod, hoping to make people feel like their voices matter – and puts the questions posed during parish listening sessions into an online survey.
“How is it that we can be a more welcoming, a more listening church so we’re using technology to help us listen,” Father Gibino said.
Anyone with an Android, iPhone, laptop or internet connection can scan a QR code or follow a link and participate. A motivation for the digital synod has been the need to reach young people.
“We’ve lost generations of youth, their world is a digital world, everything is online and everyone will have access,” said Sister Maryann.
People can complete the 10-topic survey all at once or in parts and save their answers.
The digital synod is launching on February 27 in time for Lent but the Diocese of Brooklyn is encouraging people to register now online at dioceseofbrooklyn.org/synodsurvey
Currents News Staff
In 2017, Michael Roccati was paralyzed after a motorcycle accident. No one ever thought Michael would be able to do high-functioning movements.
“I tried to move my legs,” Michael said. “I try to change my position. This was impossible to do nothing. I fixed in my mind that it was just a situation, so I put on my mind, my behavior to try and solve this problem and I never stopped.”
Now he can walk about a mile without assistance thanks to this device. It sends electrical impulses to his spine. He can control it through his computer.
Scientists have been researching electrical stimulation as a treatment for paralysis for three decades. The newest stimulator, from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, can reach more of the spinal cord and allow people to regain movement on the same day that they received the spinal implant.
“This technology is so precise that immediately after the surgery, the patient can walk and stand,” said Surgeon Jocelyne Bloch.
Within a week, three patients, men between the ages of 29 and 41 including Michael, were able to walk like this. Their case is detailed in a study published Monday in the journal, Nature Medicine.
With hours and hours of rehabilitation for five months, the patients were walking, riding bikes and even boxing.
The research is still early and they’ve tried it out on only three patients. They plan to test it out on 50 to 100 more patients to make sure it’s safe and to see if it works better in some people than in others. They hope that if the device performs well in these tests, that it will be widely used in the next three to four years.
But these initial steps are still monumental.
“Working is super important,” Michael said. “Just stand up. Can solve a lot of kind of problems in their normal life. Just to do a simple shower with the crutches. I can stand up and take a shower. With the walker. I am free.”
The spinal cord stimulator has been used for decades to treat chronic pain. Scientists modified the device to target nerves in the spine that control leg and trunk movements.
Currents News Staff
Feb. 8 is the “International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking” and it’s being marked by a day-long prayer marathon organized by the religious sisters of Talitha Kum.
They say it has even more importance this year since the pandemic has put even more people at risk of being trafficked.
“The time we are living in which for the last two years has been marked by the pandemic, has increased the number of vulnerable situations which are exploited by traffickers,” said International Coordinator Sister Gabriella Bottani.
During the Angelus, Pope Francis encouraged these sisters to continue their work with victims of human trafficking and blessed a statue they presented to the Diocese of Rome.
“A special greeting goes to the women religious of the group Talitha Kum, who are working against human trafficking. Thank you for what you do, for your courage. Thank you. I encourage you in your work and I bless the statue of Saint Josephine Bakhita,” the pontiff said.
The statue is a moving depiction of St. Josephine Bakhita, a former slave and universal symbol of the Church’s commitment to fighting human trafficking.
“She is a woman who, with a simple gesture, holds open a manhole which joins the world of darkness with the world of light, the submerged world with the visible one, and from this manhole emerge the people who represent the different forms of trafficking in all its realities in the world,” said Sister Gabriella.
Human trafficking occurs in all parts of the world and as such, participants from over 30 countries and all continents will participate in the day of prayer. Together they aim to raise awareness about the over 40 million modern slaves worldwide – of which an estimated 72-percent are women and girls.
The religious sisters of Talitha Kum work in more than 92 countries worldwide to combat human trafficking.
Ed travels to Incarnation Parish and speaks with the pastor Father Josephjude Gannon. They speak about the parish school, and about the covenant program that allows families to receive financial support. Ed also speaks with families who have benefited from the program and the principal of the school, Mary Bellone.
Currents News Staff
During the height of the pandemic, one of the most popular destinations for pilgrims, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, closed to the public for the first time in its history, so one entrepreneur used his drone piloting skills to transform the experience, creating a free tour online, where viewers can enjoy the shrine virtually.
The pilot was given rare exclusive access to the shrine while working on the project and was in awe of its vastness.
“When you’re alone in the sanctuary, you feel very small, because it’s very huge,” said Célian de la Rochefoucauld. “And you can’t see how huge is the sanctuary if you’re not alone, I think, in this place. And for a Christian, it was something very exciting and very impressive.”
The tour includes visual and audio guides with historical information about the shrine as well as background information on the rosary and other Marian prayers. The virtual tour is free and available online, just go to youheritage.com or to the Sanctuary of Lourdes app.
By Jessica Easthope
After a difficult few years for Catholic education, enrollment is up.
Many Catholic schools are making a comeback in some of the largest dioceses around the country. Among those leading the way, the Diocese of Brooklyn.
At one school in Belle Harbor they’ve seen such an influx, they’re running out of room.
It’s been 20 years since St. Francis de Sales Catholic Academy has had these many students.
“We know that we’ve made great efforts in our Diocese in trying to increase enrollment and have people try to see the value of Catholic Education here in Brooklyn and Queens.”
New data from the National Catholic Educational Association shows enrollment in Catholic schools nationwide is climbing back toward pre-pandemic levels.
Enrollment this year is up almost 4 percent and the Diocese of Brooklyn is near the top of the list with elementary school enrollment growing 2.4 percent.
St. Francis de Sales Catholic Academy had 569 students last school year – this year there are 638.
Judy Lindner says her students have adapted seamlessly, watching sometimes through a small hole in their plastic shields.
Her first graders don’t take up too much space, but next year there’ll be more of them.
“Because we are growing in enrollment instead of having 2 classes of say 30 in each class, Mr. Scharbach is able to make the 1st grade into 3 classes,” she said.
As enrollment climbed Principal Scharbach has had to transform the entire school.
“We’re reusing rooms used for different reasons now as classrooms, one thing the pandemic has had us do is really be creative with how we structure a school,” he said.
He says it’s sad to see so many people forced out of Catholic schools by the economic effects of the pandemic, a problem they’ve tried to keep under control at the school.
“We’ve tried to keep tuition as low as possible and not have as large of increases as we’ve had in the past and we’ve tried to work with families around it and we have a tuition assistance committee for anyone who has fallen on tough times,” he said.
So as the school continues to make room, repurpose and squeeze in where they can , Scharbach says it’s the artwork, prayers and projects on the walls that remind him a Catholic education is a gift.
After a difficult few years for Catholic education, enrollment is up.
Ukrainian forces are training for urban combat in Chernobyl’s radiation exclusion zone.
Growing violence in the city has bus drivers asking for bullet proof vests.
Currents News Staff
Ukrainian forces are training for urban combat in Chernobyl’s radiation exclusion zone.
It’s just ten miles from Belarus, where the U.S. says Russia is deploying up to 30,000 troops.
But at the ‘Three Sisters’ border of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia, there’s more nostalgia for the past than worry about war.
Currents News Staff
As fear and anxiety over a possible Russian invasion continue to permeate Ukraine, Aid to the Church in Need hosted a virtual conference about the Church’s experiences of eight years of armed conflict in the country.
Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, described the situation on the ground and explained how the Catholic Church and other religious institutions are responding.
“People very often are trying to see from the Churches some strong orientation: What should we do in such critical conditions? We feel our responsibility toward Ukrainian society and we are trying to project our own plan, especially when a possible full-scale military invasion of Russian troops can happen at any time,” said Shevchuk.
In response to a circulating theory that religious conflict in Ukraine is a reason for Russia’s aggression, Archbishop Shevchuk strongly affirmed that there is no religious war, despite some differing views among the different Churches.
“In the very grassroots of Ukrainian society, between the believers, simple people, there are no divisions. Among the religious leaders in Ukraine, it is very clear that religious peace is a matter of national security. So we are avoiding any kind of conflicts among us and we are trying to foster religious peace in Ukraine as much as possible,” he said.
Another participant in the conference was the Apostolic Nuncio to Ukraine, Msgr. Visvaldas Kulbokas. He explained that parishes and Caritas staff have a number of humanitarian assistance points along the conflict line, where they provide material, psychological and spiritual aid.
Despite it becoming more difficult to aid in occupied territory, Abp. Shevchuk says a number of priests and nuns continue to serve their people there.
“Those priests who are staying there with our people, they are heroes of our times. I have to say. But that was our policy and will be our policy, even if, God forbid, a new occupation happens. We stay with our people. Our priests, our nuns, will be staying with our people,” said Shevchuk.
Both the Major Archbishop and the Apostolic Nuncio say the people of Ukraine are grateful for Pope Francis’ support and prayers, and they hope he will be able to visit the country soon as a beacon of peace.