Mayor Eric Adams is showing some love to Catholic schools today. He’s visiting St. Brigid – St. Frances Catholic Academy in Brooklyn.
We’re learning more about that U.S. military raid in Syria that ended with the death of an ISIS leader.
Hours before the opening of the winter Olympics in Beijing, Chinese leader Xi Jinping met with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
By Jessica Easthope
Mayor Eric Adams looked out onto an auditorium of Catholic school students and said he’s just like them – a kid born and raised in Brooklyn with big dreams.
“I remember watching the borough and the city and hoping one day I could do something that would make my mother proud of me,” Mayor Adams said.
During his visit to St. Brigid-St. Frances Catholic Academy in Bushwick, Mayor Adams celebrated the diversity of Catholic schools in the Diocese of Brooklyn and left kids with the hope that they too could one day become a leader and make a difference.
“It made me want to do what he did, it was really inspirational,” said eighth grader Javier Hernandez.
But the mayor said the most important part of their Catholic education is learning how the power of prayer can shape their futures.
“When you pray you start to believe in what’s possible and not allow anything to prevent you from reaching your full potential or dreams. I still pray every day and every night,” he said.
“For our students to hear that the Mayor of New York City also prays I thought that was wonderful,” said principal Marcia Soria.
Mayor Adams’ visit comes a day after his meeting with President Joe Biden on how to combat the violent crime plaguing the streets of New York City.
“That means talk about violence and how we are not going to allow violence to be part of our lives,” said Mayor Adams.
Before leaving Mayor Adams said he hung out with some of the best Catholic school students the city has to offer.
Currents News Staff
The Beijing Olympics have officially begun.
Athletes from around the world are pouring into China’s capital to bring their elite skills to the world stage.
But boycotts and global politics are already over-shadowing the games.
Currents News Staff
In Bensonhurst, Wonder Woman and Harry Potter showed up for class.
It was all a part of St. Athanasius Catholic Academy’s storybook character day.
Students went to school dressed as their favorite characters from books, fairy tales and movies. It even gave them the opportunity to share some of their favorite books with their classmates.
Currents News Staff
Catholic Schools Week may be nearing its end, but that’s not stopping students in the Diocese of Brooklyn from joining in on the fun.
At Our Lady of Trust Catholic Academy in Canarsie, teachers there encouraged some friendly competition with their annual sports day.
The students got a taste for speed while facing off in a relay race, and some even got to show off their muscles with a classic game of tug-of-war.
In the wake of the shooting deaths of two NYPD officers, President Biden is in New York City today. He’s meeting with Mayor Eric Adams to address the spike in gun violence.
Earlier today, President Biden attended the National Prayer Breakfast on Capitol Hill. The Catholic President stressed the importance of unifying the country.
Catholic Schools Week continues in the Diocese of Brooklyn and students at St. Athanasius Catholic Academy in Bensonhurst are really diving into their books.
By Jessica Easthope
In just January alone, 24 police officers were shot in New York City, but the deaths of two of them, Detectives Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora are shedding a light on how rampant violent crime in the Big Apple has become.
“Enough is enough,” said President Biden. “Because we know we can do things about this, but for the resistance we’re getting from some sectors of the government.”
New Yorkers are calling for change, including the NYPD chaplain who met with the families of the slain officers.
“Hopefully these times change, hopefully through our politicians we get back to some law and order in society,” said NYPD Deputy Chief Chaplain Monsignor David Cassato.
During President Joe Biden’s visit to the city, Thursday, he opposed defunding the police.
“The answer is not to de-fund the police. It’s to give you the tools, the training, the funding, to be partners, to be protectors,” he said.
The president came at the invitation of Mayor Eric Adams and joined Governor Kathy Hochul and the United States Attorney General Merrick Garland. Mayor Adams is asking the president to federally fund a “9/11 response” to the violence.
“This room came together to zero in on the violence that is attempting to take our way of life,” said Mayor Adams.
And the rise in violence isn’t just in New York, it’s across the country. Last year 16 cities broke their own murder records including Philadelphia and Atlanta. So far this year 316 people have been shot, 106 killed, 64 children have been shot and injured and 26 have been killed by guns.
“There’s no violation of the second amendment right. We talk like there’s no amendment that’s absolute,” said President Biden.
With midterm elections coming up the country is keeping a close eye on the president’s response. He faces a balancing act of getting guns off the street, but also keeping his promise of police reform.
Currents News Staff
In September of 2019, Dr. Ramón Tallaj met the Pope. He told him about the network of family physicians he’d founded. These doctors belong to the same cultural community as their patients, so they’re able to communicate with them in the language with which they feel most comfortable.
“Our services are geared toward migrants, the poor and the most vulnerable in New York. They come from many different parts of the world,” said Tallaj.
“This solidarity with the sick is a real treasure, and it is a distinctive sign of authentic health care and assistance, which puts the person and his needs at the center,” said the Pope.
Neither of them imagined that the pandemic would make their work indispensable and submit them to unprecedented pressure.
While the streets emptied out, Somos Community Care began looking for ways to help its patients, since for many Latinos and Asians, being quarantined was out of the question.
The organization distributed food and Covid-19 tests, and set up hotlines to answer questions in different languages.
“We’re working with authorities. We have around 20,000 of these kits so they can be used on other people. It’s completely free for our community,” said Tallaj.
Somos Community Care put $30 million from its own savings toward helping the community.
They served 40,000 people a day, administered more than 2 million tests and hundreds of thousands of vaccines. They even covered funeral costs for people who could not afford them.
It was a difficult moment that brought with it a unique faith experience.
“At one point, our people were dying, our doctors too. Twelve of them died, five during that period. And then, on March 26, I told the employees I saw during the day that whenever they got home, be it six in the morning or seven at night, to change, eat and be ready for prayer at 8 p.m. That was the first day. And that’s what we’ve been doing non-stop since. Every day,” said Tallaj.
The doctor thinks that, barring any new unexpected obstacles, the pandemic will likely be overcome soon.
That’s why he’s advocating for preventative medicine, so people don’t have to be hospitalized or receive painful treatment.
“Prevention is very important. Prevention, if we start with today’s young people, will make it so less people have complications with diabetes in the future, or with hypertension or stroke. These problems are those that cause health disasters and economic troubles toward the end of life,” said Tallaj.
That’s the policy of this network of family physicians, which already serves at least 700,000 people in New York.
The pandemic has shown that they are doctors who are unwilling to leave anyone behind.
Currents News Staff
Catholic students in the Diocese of Brooklyn are thanking the nation’s vets with their annual “Valentine’s for Veterans” event.
For more than eight years, the students at Saint Gregory the Great Catholic Academy have been writing heartfelt valentine’s cards to send to a local V.A. hospital.
And this year in addition to that, some of the students are also sending cards to an Army troop in Japan, where their teacher’s loved one is stationed.
Currents News Staff
Some older students are fessing up, admitting that they cheated during remote learning.
And these kids go to one of the city’s most elite public schools: Stuyvesant High School.
Students told the school’s newspaper that cheating was rampant during remote learning because it was easy to do it.
Stats show that 79% of 2021 graduates said they cheated at least once.