Currents News Staff
After 18 years of faithful service, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio is saying his final farewells to the people of the Diocese of Brooklyn ahead of his retirement at the end of the month.
In his last ‘Into the Deep’ interview with former Tablet Editor Ed Wilkinson, Bishop DiMarzio looks back on his legacy in the diocese and fondly reflects on the special farewell given to him at his Episcopal Mass.
Currents News Staff
The U.S. bishops have wrapped up their highly anticipated fall general assembly in Baltimore. The three-day event has been jam-packed with high profile votes.But the document on the Eucharist was not the only thing that happened at the conference.
The National Correspondent for The Tablet and Crux, John Lavenburg, was there. He breaks down the big takeaways, including the plan for the first National Eucharistic Congress in more than 50 years.
The Diocese of Brooklyn is offering a thriving alternative to a school year filled with COVID variants and vaccine debates.
At the USCCB’s Fall General Assembly, the bishops approved a motion to host the National Eucharistic Congress in 2024.
The Pentagon will increase housing payments for troops in key areas and look for ways to combat hunger across the force.
By Jessica Easthope
Five-year-old Michael Martinez loves to explore, get his hands dirty and use his imagination.
His dad, Anthony says his school embraces his individuality and celebrates his achievements. That part may not surprise you, but the part that may – Michael’s never met his teacher or his classmates in-person.
“He’s getting this one on one that he wouldn’t get in class and that is paramount to anything else and I’ve seen really excel,” Anthony Martinez said.
Michael attends St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Online Academy, a completely virtual Kindergarten through eighth grade school for kids all over the country.
During the pandemic, the Diocese of Brooklyn launched the program for students who were mandated to stay home, but when the administration realized families needed this far beyond then – it was made a permanent school.
“Students are really immersing themselves in the content of their classes and we’ve been blessed with a really good faculty and those two ingredients really spells a good start to the academic year,” said principal, Stephen Haessler.
In the first year of the distance learning program, there were 2,400 students enrolled. This year, in-person learning is back and there are still around 160 students. Social Studies teacher Jennifer Centeno says now everyone in her class is there because they want to be, not because they need to be.
“The students in our school want a different type of learning and each child has their own learning needs and we’ve been able to accommodate those and they flourish better in an online platform,” Jennifer said.
And Michael seems to like it too.
“I have fun in school, I love it so much,” he said.
For the Martinez family and so many others, this is long-term.
“Last year, he didn’t know how to read at all and at the end of the year, he was reading books. So when you have a winning recipe, why change the recipe,” said Anthony.
St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Online Academy is here for good and enrollment is growing every day. Families along with students are learning to adapt and build a different kind of connection.
St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Online Academy is still accepting new students. Families looking to enroll or for more information about tuition and financial aid can go to stacoa.org
Currents News Staff
Scores of U.S. bishops from across the country are in Baltimore right now kicking off their annual fall meeting in person for the first time in two years.
John Lavenburg, National Correspondent for The Tablet and Crux joined Currents News. Lavenburg is with the bishops in Baltimore and he had a chance to touch base with Bishop DiMarzio following his comments.
Currents News Staff
Church arsons, assaults on priests and robberies of Eucharistic hosts are just some of the incidents against Christians that are happening at an alarming rate worldwide.
According to a report from the Organization For Security and Cooperation in Europe, hate crimes against Christians are up. Nearly 1,000 incidents were reported in Europe in 2020 – that’s compared to around 600 in 2019.
Each year, Open Doors, an organization which supports persecuted Christians in more than 60 countries, compiles the World Watch List. It’s a list of the top 50 countries where Christians are most severely persecuted.
One of the most surprising findings of this year’s report is that the number of Christians killed for their faith is up by 60 percent compared to last year’s reporting period. This was mainly due to the increase of armed conflicts in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa.
On top of the list is North Korea. Christians living there are arrested and taken to work camps for possessing a bible or when caught praying. An estimated 50,000 to 70,000 Christians are currently imprisoned.
The rest of the top five countries are Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, and Pakistan. Open Doors’ director explains that Christians are asked to convert to the dominant religion or face death in these countries.
“More than surprising me, it pains me, it pains me very much because they are souls, they are people killed, they are widows, orphaned children, they are entire towns and villages displaced and sacked,” said Director Cristian Nani. “In short, there is a lot of pain around this crisis.”
The primary focus of Open Doors is to provide emergency relief, contextualized Christian material in minority languages, and community development in places where Christians are deprived of basic and spiritual needs.
“The main focus is to go to the places where there is the most hostility towards Christians and even more hostility to the Gospel,” Cristian said. “We take care of small, large, isolated, or even hidden Christian communities. The heart of Open Doors is this: to tell these Christians, you’re not alone, we come there to you and ask what you need, we don’t tell you what we think you need. This is the basis of the way we operate.”
Weeks after the remnants of Hurricane Ida tore through New York City, one Queens parish is still trying to fix the damage left behind.
You better bundle up this winter and get ready to shell out some extra money to keep warm.
A startling report on hate crimes against Christians has just been released — the number of incidents against Christians went up in 2020.
By Jessica Easthope
Always forward, never back – that’s the slogan St. Mary’s Winfield adopted at the beginning of the pandemic to help parishioners pull through. But in recent months, it’s taken on a new meaning.
“I had this whole plan for this year to really get people back to church,” said pastor, Father Christopher O’Connor. “Trying to reengage with parishioners, reach out to the youth more and Sept. 1st came and it was just a nightmare.”
During Tropical Storm Ida, water surged into the lower church reaching more than 10 feet.
“The space was destroyed and it was traumatic because I realized when I was standing in front of the boiler trying to catch the water in garbage cans, if I had been there 15 minutes earlier, I wouldn’t be here talking to you,” Father O’Connor said.
Since then, St. Mary’s, like many of its parishioners in Woodside, Queens, has had to pick up the pieces and really drill down into starting over.
Where there were walls – now just wooden frames. The electrical system was ruined and the floor is all that’s left of the church’s brand-new adoration chapel. Father O’Connor says the church has shelled out $264,000 in repairs.
Parishioners have donated more than $100,000 to help and on Wednesday, Nov. 17, the church received an insurance check for $250,000. But the work is far from over. Father O’Connor estimates repairs will reach $1 million dollars.
“People have been extremely supportive financially with encouraging notes, emails,” he said. “They love their church and they want to see their church taken care of.”
And even as bad as the damage is, Father O’Connor knows the church is better off than some parishioners. He’s offered help to those affected and is leaving the rest up to God.
“It’s in his hands anyway. I wasn’t going to let COVID define us and I’m not going to let the flood define us either. We’re going to come out of this better and stronger,” said Father O’Connor.
He’s reminding himself and his parishioners – always forward, never back.
If you would like to help St. Mary’s Winfield rebuild, you can text “Ida Flood” to 308-300-4848 or go to the website: www.stmarysofwinfield.com and click the link.
The U.S. bishops are opening the door to the public today for day two of their fall meeting in Baltimore.
While the bishop’s meeting was closed to the public yesterday, a pro-life men’s march was happening outside of the Baltimore hotel.
It’s a red-hot housing market. Home prices are expected to end the year on a high note.
By Jessica Easthope
“So my brothers, our beautiful task is to continue to tell the Catholic story, to reveal Jesus to our people, to place their hands in his hands, so they can walk by his light and follow him on the path to eternity to the love that never ends,” said USCCB President, Archbishop Jose Gomez.
The Document on the Meaning of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church is a teaching document, an effort to revive the celebration of Communion. Despite rumors, no part of the document prohibits pro-abortion politicians from receiving the Cucharist; however, a draft of the document says “Lay people who exercise some form of public authority have a special responsibility to embody Church teaching.”
The topic of whether or not President Joe Biden, specifically, should receive Communion considering his record of pro-abortion policies, has caused a widespread debate. But the bishops have repeatedly said the document is not disciplinary in nature, but instead, it’s the responsibility of every Catholic to celebrate the Eucharist. As for whether any person can be denied – Canon Law leaves that up to individual priests and bishops.
“We are also united in our conviction that the Eucharist cannot be a tool for division. The Eucharist cannot be ideological. The Eucharist cannot be partisan,” said USCCB National Advisory Council, Mark Sadd.
Though the conversation surrounding the teaching document started with the issue of abortion, the bishops also discussed how the Church can evolve in its approach to combating loss of unborn life.
“The Church must be unapologetically pro-life. We cannot abandon our defense of the innocent human life or the vulnerable person,” said Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Christophe Pierre. “Yet the synodal approach to the question would be to understand better why people seek to end pregnancy.”