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NYC Restaurateur Offers Overnight Shelter in Freezing Weather

By Katie Vasquez and Bill Miller

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN — On a bone-chilling winter night in 1986, a 20-year-old immigrant from Ankara, Turkey, who arrived just three days earlier, stumbled through the streets of a New Jersey town, lost and unable to speak English. 

Ali Riza Doğan had no way to call his uncle for help or directions. There weren’t any cell phones yet, and the young restaurant worker couldn’t find a payphone. 

Feeling lost, alone, and not knowing English, Doğan said he “almost cried.”  

But then he found an unlocked door to a boarded-up building, which he entered to escape the wintry blast.  

“I went to the fifth-floor hallway, and they had carpet and heat on there,” Doğan recalled. “I slept there overnight. It was like a five-star hotel.” 

RELATED: When Temperatures Plunge, Charities Worry Most About Risks to Homeless

When morning came, he went to a shopping area, where he got help calling his uncle, who came and picked him up. 

Doğan operates the popular Ali Baba Mediterranean & Turkish Cuisine on East 53rd Street in Midtown. Yet his humble beginnings in the U.S. stay with him. 

“I never forget that day,” Doğan said of the time he was lost. “It is a very bad memory for me still.” 

And when that happens — like the 14 degrees below zero on Feb. 8 — he prints out a sign that he tapes to his restaurant’s window. It reads: “If anyone is staying outside tonight, you can stay inside. The heat is on overnight.  

“We can sleep in peace when we remember God is awake.” 

Like that hallway 40 years ago, shelter seekers can sleep inside the restaurant’s vestibule. There is no access to the dining area or kitchen, but the small space is heated and dry. 

Doğan sat down with The Tablet on March 10 when the mercury reached 77 degrees. Just days earlier, the daytime temperatures were frigid enough to retain the snow that blanketed the city for several weeks. 

But Doğan’s charity doesn’t end when spring arrives. 

Each Wednesday, he joins other volunteers in serving food from his restaurant and other eateries to homeless people. He shares savory entrees of lamb and chicken, along with various Mediterranean side dishes. 

Doğan’s Muslim faith calls upon believers to help the poor, but he noted that all people deserve kindness. Christians can relate. 

Matthew 25:40 says, “And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ ” 

RELATED: Queens Restaurateur’s Special Dish Is His Devotion to St. Padre Pio

Also, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1397) says, “The Eucharist commits us to the poor. To receive in truth the Body and Blood of Christ given up for us, we must recognize Christ in the poorest.” 

To that end, the Church calls upon Catholics to perform or support “corporal works of mercy,” such as feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, and visiting the sick, including those in prison. 

That’s easy to do, Doğan said, when people never forget where they came from, including the bad memories of being cold, lost, and unable to communicate in a new country. 

“Make someone happy,” he said. “That’s the most important thing in life. It doesn’t matter what religion you are, what country you [are from], what color you are — it doesn’t make a difference. 

“We are all human beings, and we only want God watching us.” 

St. Anselm Church Dedicates Chapel to Longtime Pastor

By Currents News

St. Anselm Church in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn has dedicated its rosary chapel to Monsignor Michael Phillips, honoring the longtime former pastor whose leadership shaped the parish for nearly two decades.

Archbishop Ronald Hicks Marks First St. Patrick’s Day in New York City, Urges Welcome for Immigrants

By Jessica Easthope and Paula Katinas

New York’s Fifth Avenue was a sea of green for the 265th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 17, a grand march that turned one of the world’s most famous thoroughfares into a feast of festive sights and sounds. 

Hundreds of thousands of people lined the parade route to cheer for the marchers, marching bands, and floats as they passed by. Many of the spectators were also dressed for the occasion, wearing green hats and green sweaters and waving Irish flags. 

The New York parade has become so legendary that spectators came from all over — including Ireland, the birthplace of St. Patrick — to see it. Patrick Guinan lives in County Offaly in the Midland Region of Ireland, but flew all the way to New York.  

“This is very exciting! I wanted to come to this parade because I heard it’s the biggest and the best,” Guinan told The Tablet. 

This year marked newly installed Archbishop Ronald Hicks’ first parade as the archbishop of New York.  

“We are going to celebrate all day long!” Archbishop Hicks said during the pre-parade Mass he celebrated. “And it is good to be here, and it is good to begin right here in St. Patrick’s Cathedral.” 

In his homily, Archbishop Hicks paid tribute to Irish immigrants who came to New York in the 19th century and helped build the city despite facing hardship and discrimination. 

“Through their faith, their hard work, and their devotion to family and to church, they helped build parishes and schools, neighborhoods, and communities,” he said. 

Archbishop Hicks reminded the faithful that New York is still the arrival point for immigrants today. “As followers of Jesus Christ, we are called not to see them as strangers,” he added. “But as brothers and sisters, welcoming them with respect and walking together in faith.” 

The grand marshal of this year’s parade was financier Robert J. McCann, co-chairman of NewEdge Capital Group and chairman of the board of the Irish Arts Center. 

Bishop Robert Brennan, whose maternal grandfather arrived in the U.S. from County Sligo 99 years ago, said Irish immigrants were guided by faith. 

Many, he said, were “very poor people with great hope that wanted to give glory to God.” 

Bishop Brennan said that new waves of immigrants coming to the U.S. now are continuing to make contributions, just as newcomers did years ago. 

“They are reviving our faith with a sense of enthusiasm,” he added.

Catholic News Headlines for Tuesday 3/17/26   

Millions lined Fifth Avenue as the 265th New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade marched through Midtown.

Archbishop Ronald Hicks celebrated his first St. Patrick’s Day Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral as the new shepherd of the Archdiocese of New York.

A sober St. Patrick’s Day celebration in Manhattan is challenging the holiday’s drinking stereotype by focusing on heritage and history.

Pope Leo XIV will receive the Liberty Medal from the National Constitution Center for promoting religious liberty.

Sober Celebration Highlights Irish Heritage and Ukrainian Solidarity in New York City

By Katie Vasquez

Amid the sea of green and Guinness flowing along Fifth Avenue, one group is offering a different way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day — one that puts heritage, history, and community ahead of alcohol.

Now in its 15th year, the Sober St. Patrick’s Day event was founded by William Spencer Reilly, who sought to shift the holiday’s focus away from binge drinking and back to its cultural roots.

This year’s celebration is being hosted at the Ukrainian Institute of America, a historic Gilded Age mansion on East 79th Street — just steps from where the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade concludes.

Organizers say the partnership between Irish and Ukrainian communities is intentional, rooted in shared histories of hardship and resilience.

“There’s a long common heritage and mentality of our peoples,” one organizer said. “The Irish have been subject to colonial powers for centuries, and Ukrainians have also lived under colonial rule. Our cultures have been suppressed, and we are both fighting for a rebirth and reestablishment of ancient traditions.”

The parallels run deep. Ukraine endured a devastating famine under Soviet rule that claimed millions of lives — a tragedy often compared to Ireland’s Great Famine. Both nations also share similar timelines in their struggles for independence and ongoing efforts to preserve their cultural identities.

“With what’s going on today, Ukraine is still facing foreign occupation,” the organizer added. “In many ways, the histories align. It felt like a natural partnership.”

After marching in the parade, participants will gather at the institute to continue the celebration into the evening, featuring traditional Irish and Ukrainian cuisine, music, and cultural programming.

While the crowds outside may raise a pint, this event offers a quieter, more reflective alternative — one that honors the enduring spirit of two nations bound by history, struggle, and pride.

Annual Brooklyn St. Patrick’s Day Parade Honors Irish American Culture and Faith

By Currents News and Bill Miller

WINDSOR TERRACE — Declan Carroll hopped and jigged on March 15 in a “fisherman” sweater just like the ones worn by his parents, aunts, and uncles at the 51st annual Brooklyn St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

It was perfect attire for the breezy, overcast conditions that hovered over this year’s parade. Still, the frigid weather was ignored by the joyous crowd assembled on the parade route.

Each of the 12 Carroll family sweaters — characterized by their intricate, raised, cable-knit designs — was knitted by Declan’s grandmother, Gloria Carroll. This style was popularized by the seafaring culture from the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland.

“Each one takes a good six months to knit,” Carroll said. “If you look at the pattern, they’re all different.”

Since 1975, the annual parade has honored the patron saint of Ireland and the intertwined histories of Ireland and the U.S.

One of the parade’s early remembrances in 1976, the nation’s bicentennial, was for the Battle of Brooklyn, Aug. 27, 1776.

Fifty years later, the Brooklyn parade again honored the battle in which British forces routed Gen. George Washington’s army.

Still, a rear-guard action pressed by 400 Maryland troops gave the future first president a nighttime window to evacuate the rest of his army, which survived and eventually won the war.

Those early American heroes were represented in the 2026 Brooklyn parade by a color guard from the Sons of the American Revolution’s Battle of Brooklyn Chapter, whose members dressed in replica uniforms of Washington’s army.

The lineup also included several pipe-and-drum corps marching bands, local traditional Irish dance clubs, Scouting troops, and politicians.

RELATED: Pipe-and-Drum Lessons Ignite Harmony at St. Patrick Parish

Magee Hickey, PIX11 reporter, was the 2026 parade grand marshal. She was born in Brooklyn but spent most of her life in Manhattan. She later relocated to Brooklyn, where her family’s rich Irish heritage runs deep.

Hickey proudly described how her ancestors, displaced by the Great Famine of the mid-1800s, came to America, prospered, and eventually donated a stained-glass window for St. Thomas Aquinas Church at 4th Avenue and 9th Street.

“The St. Patrick’s Day parade,” she said, “is a celebration of all the values we learned growing up — the importance of family, the importance of Church, the importance of community, and just helping others.”

Before the parade, Auxiliary Bishop Witold Mroziewski of Brooklyn celebrated a special 10:30 a.m. Mass for parade participants at nearby Holy Name of Jesus Parish in Windsor Terrace.

“They have eyes to see,” he said of the Irish. “They have a heart to be open. They have a mind to share everything that is good.”

At Mass, Bishop Mroziewski, who is from Poland, closed with a traditional Irish blessing.

“May the road rise up to meet you,” he said with his Polish accent. “May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face; the rains fall soft upon your fields, and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of his hand.”