Historic Long Island City Church Gets Makeover

by Katie Vasquez

It’s a common sight for the hundreds of thousands who commute on the Long Island Expressway. St. Raphael’s Church rises above on Greenpoint Avenue.

Father Paul Kim aims to keep the historic charm but wants to make sure the church is around for another 130 years. The construction will do that. Work is well underway as the church already has new brickwork, roof, and two steeples. The pastor hopes the updated look may bring new worshippers from the community to the church.

“I’ve noticed that people, already while the construction was going on, that wanted to come in and pray and I think the construction will just increase that and evangelize the people knowing that there is a church here,” Father Kim said.

The church was founded in 1868 but construction wasn’t completed until 1881. The price tag to fix the exterior is close to $2 million, a large part raised by the 600 parishioners who attend.

“I say one of the hardest things about being a priest or a pastor is asking people for money, it’s not easy, but they have been very pleasant with me,” Father Kim said.

They also received a $20,000 grant from the New York Landmarks Conservancy. For a building to be eligible for the grant, it must serve the community at large, which St. Raphael does because it offers a food pantry that helps 700 people in the neighborhood and also has space that is used to teach ESL courses in an effort to serve immigrant communities in the surrounding neighborhoods.

“We find that most churches are serving at least 10 times their member numbers with cultural and community and social service and education programming,” Ann Friedman of the New York Landmarks Conservancy said.

Parishioners are excited by the updates to their historic church. Longtime parishioner and trustee Richard O’Connor said the improvements are not just cosmetic but significant to all who go to St. Raphael.

“The church belongs to all of us,” O’ Connor said. “We’re all pillars of the church. and all the people that went ahead of us, and all the people that are going to come after us. So we’re just a cog in the wheel and we’re trying to keep it going for the future.”

The scaffolding should come down by the end of September and they expect all the exterior work to be done by then. The next major project will be completing the interior of the church.

Catholic News Headlines for Thursday 08/24/2023

A historic church in Long Island City is getting a much needed makeover.

Dozens of white crosses now line a fence in Lahaina, Hawaii, each representing a life lost during Maui’s wildfires.

An entire family killed by the Nazis for hiding Jews in their home in Poland is about to be beatified.

The name of a fallen FDNY hero will forever be remembered in a Queens neighborhood.

Bishop Brennan Recaps World Youth Day, Explores Mary’s Message in Fatima on Big City Catholics Podcast

In the Diocese of Brooklyn, Bishop Robert Brennan reflects on World Youth Day in a new episode of his podcast, Big City Catholics.

He speaks about Mary’s message in Fatima and how that message still holds true today.

The Bishop of Brooklyn also speaks to one of the pilgrims about their journey to Fatima.

To listen to them and to catch new episodes as they come out every Friday just go to podcast.dioceseofbrooklyn.org or search for “big city catholics” on spotify and apple podcasts.

Cobble Hill Priest Uses Beekeeping Hobby to Connect With Parishioners

COBBLE HILL — Three times a month, Father Alexandre Morard heads up a stairwell at St. Paul Church in Cobble Hill, suits up, and heads to a spot above the sacristy.

A friend gave him some of this beekeeping equipment years ago but he put it in storage, until he joined this church in 2019.

“I say oh yeah maybe I can start that now,” Father Morard said. “So, but no I never had the idea before, never done that before. Just to see all these cloud of bees coming out and flying out around you, that’s impressive.”

The bees are currently foraging for nectar and building up the colony for winter. In August, the fruits of his labor have paid off with sweet honey.

“Then they cap with wax that cell with the honey to protect it from any fermentation and any impurities,” Father Morard said.

Father Morard doesn’t keep it all to himself. He learned about the demand for raw honey and sells little jars to benefit a Brooklyn-based non-profit, Con-solatio, a mission organization.

“They don’t work, they don’t receive any support from the local authorities or a church there, so they have to find a way to support their mission,” Father Morard said.

He says it’s a way for him to unwind when he’s not celebrating Mass, but it also helped in his role as a priest.

“I like the fact that it also allows me to connect with parishioners and other people because I sell the honey or because people know that I have these bees, so their children want to know about it,” Father Morard said.

Father Morard will let the queen bee and her workers continue their labor until his next visit.

Catholic News Headlines for Wednesday 08/23/2023

When one Brooklyn priest is tending to his flock, he’s not just ministering to people.

Just days after seizing the Jesuit Central American University, the government of Nicaragua evicted several Jesuits from their home.

Hundreds of people gathered in Brooklyn to protest a plan to house migrants at Floyd Bennett Field.

The Washington High School assistant football coach who was fired for praying on the field with his players is back on the job.

Craftsman Uses Significant Wood to Build Custom Wheelchair for The Pope

In his workshop in the southwest of France, Paul de Livron is designing a wheelchair he will give to Pope Francis. Paul has been in one himself for almost 10 years after a hiking accident in Marseille. In May this year, following a General Audience, he showed the Pope the wheelchair prototype. Paul stated that this new model will be tailored specifically to Pope Francis’ needs.

It has large armrests for support when standing up. The backrest is made so that Pope Francis can sit for hours at a time. The handles at the back were deliberately made higher, so that Sandro Mariotti, the Pope’s assistant, does not have to bend over when pushing the chair.

Furthermore, the materials the wheelchair is made from are very special.

“Pope Francis’ wheelchair is made primarily of plywood from two countries: from Russia and Ukraine,” de Livron said. “I deliberately used a combination of planks from these two countries for the Pope’s wheelchair because he has regularly offered to be a mediator between them.”

The two armrests are made from pieces of the wood from the ceiling of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in France, which caught on fire in 2019.

“It’s from the southern part of the frame of Notre-Dame in Paris,” de Livron said. “The early thirteenth-century medieval frame that caught fire in 2019. I’m lucky enough to have been entrusted with it. Two beams that survived the fire were completely charred, but I managed to carve the armrests out of them. What’s interesting is that these are trees that grew around the year 1200, at the same time as St. Francis of Assisi–Pope Francis’ patron saint.”

The project costs €15,000 ($16,210.50 USD) and that has been raised by crowdfunding. The names of the donors will be given to the Pope together with the wheelchair during his papal trip to Marseille in September.

Diocesan Pakistanis Pray for Homeland Peace

by Katie Vasquez

Prayers for peace in Brooklyn, for a home thousands of miles away.

Houses belonging to Christians in Pakistan were ransacked, while churches were set ablaze.

It’s just the latest and one of the most destructive attacks on the minority Christian population in the country.

Sheran Mehak is a native of Pakistan who came to the United States in 2014, but she remembers how difficult it was to practice her faith before migrating to the West.

“We always had a little bit of fear of going to the church especially on big occasions like Easter and Christmas because that’s where a lot of mass attacks happen,” Mehak, a parishioner of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Windsor Terrace, said.

Now she’s praying hard for those still living there.

“Being from that part of the world, we know what it feels like to be a minority,” Mehak said. “And you can’t even practice your own faith with freedom.”

The church offers the only Urdu Mass in the Diocese of Brooklyn. It’s a chance for Pakistani Catholics to pray in their native language.

The pastor, Father Ilyas Gill, was also born and raised in Pakistan. He now works to unite Pakistanis from across the tri-state area, from New Jersey to Long Island.

Parishioner Samson Javed and other Pakistani Catholics came together Sunday to pray for their family and friends as the bishops of Pakistan called for a day of prayer.

“Showing solidarity with our Pakistan Christians as what recently happened in Jaranwala, so we show our grief and you know to come to pray for them,” said Javed.

Angel Dilawar moved to the Bronx from Pakistan, along with her twin sister, Amen, seven years ago.

While the Mass offers a connection to their roots, in the wake of the recent violence, it’s created a moment to reflect.

“It’s truly an immense privilege to unite as Pakistani Catholics and take pride in the fact that we can freely express our religious beliefs without the shadow of persecution or retribution and the fact that we have each other for support,” Dilawar said.

These Catholics will continue to pray for those who can’t practice their faith openly.

Catholic News Headlines for Tuesday 08/22/2023

Pakistani Catholics at Immaculate Heart of Mary in Windsor Terrace, gathered to pray for their Christian family and friends who are dealing with religious violence in their home country.

President Joe Biden is vowing to rebuild Maui.

The Washington high school assistant football coach who was fired for praying on the field with his players is back on the job.

A designer in France is making a special wheelchair for Pope Francis.

Diocese of Brooklyn Students Help Food Pantry With Nonprofit Started to Overcome Anxiety

By Jessica Easthope

Angelina Aviles and Giuliana Astore are the shy girls in class. But when they’re out pounding the pavement, all that changes.

They’re bold for a good cause, raising money for the St. Athanasius food pantry with their nonprofit, Care 2 Create.

“That food has to support their family which can be up to four people, maybe more so it’s very difficult for them,” Aviles said.

“Here at St. Athanasius people always say thank you and it feels really nice,” Astore said.

Every Monday this summer, the girls have gone door-to-door at private businesses in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn asking for donations. They feel pulled to help out and make a push for others to do the same, because food insecurity is rampant.

St. Athanasius’ food pantry feeds 1,600 people a month, many are newly arrived migrants but funds are dwindling. Last year, they were given $36,000 to spend, this year it dropped to below $12,000. All while 66,000 more people are walking the streets of New York City.

Charlotte Montgomery, the director of the St. Athanasius’ food pantry says Aviles and Astore are making a difference.

“When they come they’re hands on with everything, it’s like what can we do and that’s really a blessing,” Montgomery said.

And for clients, seeing the next generation gives them hope.

“It’s hard for people to eat so it makes me very happy to see them helping,” Fredeline Osting, a client at the pantry, said .

The girls, who have been best friends for 10 years, now go to different Catholic academies in Brooklyn but still work together. They started Care 2 Create as a way to help with their social anxiety and make friends.

“I am definitely more outgoing,” Astore said.

“I’m able to start conversations, I’m able to hold conversations and use those skills to build friendships,” Aviles said.

Aviles’ mom Jessica tags along when the girls fundraise, but she lets them take the lead and doesn’t step in, even when they get pushback.

“They are going to face rejection throughout their entire lives and this is a way for them to learn how to face that rejection and in a respectful manner,” she said.

Some days it seems like hunger is unstoppable, but the girls are showing everyone and themselves what it means to never give up.

Catholic News Headlines for Monday 08/21/2023

Two Catholic school students in Brooklyn, who say they have social anxiety, created a non profit called “Care to Create”.

Pope Francis has announced he’s writing a second part to his 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si”.

Pope Francis called to comfort a grieving mother whose son passed away after attending World Youth Day.

President Joe Biden visited Hawaii today to survey the damage left behind from those deadly wildfires.