Currents News Staff
The shepherd of the Diocese of Brooklyn is celebrating his 10 year anniversary as a bishop. Bishop Robert Brennan was ordained as an auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Rockville Centre in Long Island on July 25, 2012.
Fast forward 10 years, give or take a few days, and Bishop Brennan joined Currents News to go down memory lane, reflect on the past decade and share his biggest lessons.
In a post-Roe America, the battle for life is just beginning; and there are new developments from West Virginia to Mississippi and beyond.
The Manhattan D.A. has moved to drop murder charges against a bodega worker in Harlem who fatally stabbed a man who attacked him.
Wild weather battered New York City Monday, as severe storms flooded highways, streets and even subway stations.
Currents News Staff
St. Francis Preparatory H.S.’s football Coach Richard Carroll wants to raise money for a new portable scoreboard. So he’s decided to swim the shark-infested waters of San Francisco Bay.
Coach Carroll joined Currents News to discuss the two-mile route he’ll be undertaking from Alcatraz to San Francisco, how he’s been preparing for the journey and why he’s doing it for the student-athletes in Queens.
To donate to Coach Carrol’s efforts, just search on Facebook for: Coach Carrol’s Alcatraz Swim for Friends of SFP Football”
Currents News Staff
It’s been almost a month since Roe v. Wade was overturned and now there’s a new development for the Mississippi abortion clinic at the center of the Supreme Court case.
It’s the state’s only abortion clinic. The so-called “Pink House” was challenging a 2018 state law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks. Now the building is closed and under contract to be sold.
In a case that could very well go to the High Court, a West Virginia judge blocked enforcement of the state’s 150-year-old abortion ban on Monday. The ban makes abortion punishable by up to a decade in prison.
The judge granted the state’s only abortion provider a preliminary injunction after finding multiple conflicts and blocking the law’s enforcement with a special concern.
“Especially those who are impregnated as a result of rape or incest are already suffering irreparable harm in the absence of an injunction,” said Judge Tera Salango of the Kanawha County Circuit Court. “Defendants will suffer no injury from this injunction that it has not suffered from the prior half-century of non-enforcement.”
But Catholics are fighting back against pro-abortion laws and policies. The Catholic Medical Association is now condemning a letter sent by Health and Human Services that forces providers to perform abortions under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA).
The Co-Chair of the Association’s Ethics Committee said:
“Catholic health care agencies and providers have managed these same health crises of mother and baby consistent with EMTALA law and best practices over the decades, while respecting the health and dignity of both.”
The owner of the Pink House says she doesn’t think the building will be used as a medical facility. However, she plans to open a new clinic in New Mexico by the middle of next week.
Most Reverend Bishop Robert J. Brennan’s Homily from Tuesday’s Mass on 7/19/22
Currents News Staff
Abortion is still legal in New York. A monthly “Witness For Life” event has been going on for more than 10 years at Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan. But now, it’s taken on new meaning.
The Mass and procession takes place just down the street from the very first Planned Parenthood in the U.S. It used to be peaceful – but after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in late June, that’s no longer the case.
Father Brian Graebe is the pastor of Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral and he joined Currents News to discuss the changing pro-abortion climate during the rosary walks, as well as what safety precautions his parish takes to ensure no one gets hurt.
A preliminary report by a Texas House Committee describes the response by authorities to the school shooting in Uvalde as confused and chaotic.
Vice President Kamala Harris compared the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade to slavery.
Pope Francis is asking for prayers ahead of his penitential pilgrimage to Canada next week.
Currents News Staff
Mass migration is landing at the U.S. doorstep. With conditions getting worse in their countries of origin, migrants are arriving in droves and arrive relieved as they cross the border.
In this part of the border, U.S. authorities arrest up to 1,000 migrants daily. The influx is an alarming trend made even more difficult by the nationalities of the people crossing the border.
Yuma border patrol chief Chris Clem described the situation as dynamic.
“We were having countries from Mexico, Central America, things that we could process and you know, take the biometric data and put them in removal proceedings and or return them back to Mexico,” said Chief Chris. “The countries were receiving now, those nationalities are flying in arriving to the border, and you know, they’re having to be processed and there’s just so many of them that it is posing a challenge to the workforce.”
Authorities can turn back migrants at the southwest border back to Mexico or their home countries under a Trump-era pandemic rule, known as Title 42, but it doesn’t apply to everyone.
Coupled with frosty relations with countries like Venezuela and Cuba, it keeps the U.S. from removing certain people. That means they might be released while going through immigration proceedings.
“We continue to evolve with technology and resources not only for our agents, but also for the overall mission, the form of surveillance systems,” said Chief Chris. “And then we continue to add to the processing and the humane care of the migrants in custody–wraparound medical services, food contracts to make sure that we’ve got plenty of food and to be able to take care of those in custody.”
The pace of people journeying north presents a steep challenge for President Biden who spoke with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador last week.
“One of those is migration at historic levels throughout our hemisphere like us,” said Biden. “Mexico has become a top destination of migrants.”
Currents News Staff
It was chaos and confusion. The mayor of Uvalde released new police body camera footage shedding light on those first panicked moments inside Robb Elementary.
Critical moments tick by as urgency fades away. Officers don’t confront the gunman and look confused and delayed, thinking there are no children inside. But soon after, in a nearby classroom, police help students and teachers escape.
“Kids coming out, kids coming out,” they shout.
Outside the classroom with the gunman, officers try to plead with him and are unaware that children may still be inside the classroom and actively in danger.
“Sir if you can hear me,” officers say, “please put your gun down. we don’t want anyone else hurt.”
A scathing 77-page report finds systemic failures by the nearly 400 officers from various agencies who responded.
“They failed to move forward in the threat of danger,” said Jimmy Perdue, the President of the Texas Police Chiefs Association, “to secure the scene to take care of the attacker and to save as many kids as possible.”
The report reveals an overall “lackadaisical approach” by law enforcement with “egregious poor-decision making.”
Investigators didn’t find any single person culpable of acting maliciously, but noted a repeated lack of a clear command.
“But at least in their final moments, they could have comforted them, to let them know they’re with them,” said Jesus Rizo, a family member of Cazares who spoke at the Uvalde council meeting. “But they did the total opposite of that. They stood there as people bled out.”
Most Reverend Bishop Robert J. Brennan’s Homily from Monday’s Mass on 7/18/22