Czcigodny Lukasz Sztorc’s Homily from Saturday’s Mass on 1/15/22
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Catholic News Headlines for Friday, 1/14/22
Thieves are raiding cargo trains – they have been for months – and police say they aren’t sure they can stop them.
The funeral arrangements are set – most of the victims of that deadly Bronx fire will be laid to rest together.
Participants planning to join in on the January 21st rally on the National Mall should still expect to wear face masks and comply with COVID regulations.
How to Get in the Pro-Life Spirit Ahead of the Upcoming March For Life Rally
Currents News Staff
A Queens parish is getting into the pro-life spirit ahead of the March For Life rally in the nation’s capitol. Holy Family Church in Fresh Meadows is asking people to donate a “Rose for Life.”
The $5 dollar cost of the rose is going to help Bridge To Life – a pro life organization in Flushing, Queens that looks to help pregnant women and new moms get the essentials in the hopes that they will choose life and keep their babies.
The roses donated will adorn the church’s sanctuary during the parishes’ day of prayer and fasting on Jan. 21.
If you’d like to donate a Rose for Life, just contact the parish rectory at 718- 969- 2448.
New York City’s MTA to Receive $6 Billion Dollars in COVID Relief Money
Currents News Staff
The MTA is getting over $6 billion dollars in COVID relief money that’s being designated for New York City subways, LIRR and the Metro-North railroad.
Senator Chuck Schumer made the announcement along with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. The money was requested by city officials to help close funding gaps created by the pandemic. ridership in the city dropped dramatically when COVID hit.
The relief dollars will be used to prevent fare hikes, layoffs and service cuts, for now.
Congressional Honor Given to Emmett Till
Currents News Staff
The Senate has passed a bi-partisan bill to posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal to Emmett Till.
The 14-year-old Black teen from Chicago was visiting family in Mississippi in 1955 when he was accused of propositioning a white woman. Till was brutally murdered by white supremacists.
The recognition comes more than a month after the Justice Department officially closed its investigation into the infamous killing.
New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan Visits First Parish of Knights of Columbus Founder Blessed Father McGivney
Currents News Staff
New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan visited the first parish assignment of Blessed Father Michael McGivney, the founder of the Knights of Columbus. His eminence pointed out that it was his work at St. Mary’s Parish in New Haven, Connecticut would lead Father McGivney to form the fraternal organization.
Cardinal Dolan says during his visit, he was able to pray at Father McGivney’s tomb and offer Mass.
California Thieves Steal Packages From Train Cargo Containers
By Jessica Easthope
It’s not the scene of an explosion or garbage spill – but the scene of a crime.
The Union Pacific train tracks in downtown Los Angeles were just cleaned last month but once again they’re littered with thousands of boxes.
Broken down boxes are all that’s left of packages belonging to people from all over the country who might be wanting to wrap up the holiday season – with gifts still missing. Police say when these trains stop to unload they’re being raided by thieves.
The locks to the train can be easily cut and robbers tear open the boxes, take what they want and leave what they don’t, like home COVID tests that many could be desperately waiting for.
You might ask what police are doing to pump the brakes on this operation – well their hands are tied. The LAPD can’t intervene unless Union Pacific asks them for help – which they say is rare.
And it’s been happening for months and in broad daylight, people can be seen running off with bags, and Union Pacific police officers chasing down people who were rifling through the packages. USC campus police also arrested one of the suspected thieves last month, his car was filled with stolen goods from the tracks.
In a statement, Union Pacific Railroad said, “These rail crimes pose a serious safety threat to the public, our employees and local law enforcement officers. We have increased the number of Union Pacific special agents on patrol, and we have utilized and explored additional technologies to help us combat this criminal activity.”
But local law enforcement who work around these tracks say they don’t see thieves shipping off any time soon.
Catholic News Headlines for Thursday, 1/13/22
Pro-life leaders are reacting to a New York Times investigation that found some blood tests pregnant women take to find out about genetic disorders are often wrong.
Community leaders are speaking out today at the scene of that deadly fire in the Bronx. They say more needs to be done for the residents of that apartment building and others, to keep people safe.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan took a road trip to Connecticut yesterday. He went to St. Mary’s Church in New Haven to celebrate Mass, where blessed Father Michael McGivney served as a priest.
The Vote on Voting Rights: What The Legislation Could Mean To You
Currents News Staff
Voting Rights are front and center on Capitol Hill with two bills President Joe Biden is pushing.
“I’m tired of being quiet!” the president said.
The “Freedom To Vote Act” looks to make it easier to vote:
– Election day would be a public holiday
– You could register the same day as an election
– There’s a guarantee you could vote by mail
– People with past felony convictions would be able to vote in federal elections again.
It would also limit changes to Congressional voting districts and keep track of money given to groups looking to influence elections. The second bill is focused on bolstering the 1965 Voting Rights Act, forbidding racial discrimination in voting quietly brokered between President Lyndon B. Johnson, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders.
In fact, the new bill is named after a civil rights icon: the “John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act” which looks to regulate voting rule changes and redistricting in states with a history of voting rights violations.
The previous requirements were struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013.
For Democrats, the bills push back against new voting laws around the country that limit access to voting. But Republicans say it’s federal overreach and getting these bills through the House is one thing, but advancing them in the gridlocked Senate isn’t likely even if there’s a push by Democrats to change the rules to make it happen.
All of it: expected to take days to play out.
False Positives in Prenatal Blood Tests Could Be Driving Women to Abortion
By Jessica Easthope
Debbie Gleeson watches her son Shane smile big on his graduation day, but she still thinks back in horror to the first thing her doctor said about him.
“I never believed in abortion and to this day I don’t believe in abortion but at that moment they’re telling me there’s no option because he’s going to die anyway,” she said.
Debbie was told, without a doubt, Shane would have Trisomy 13, a rare genetic disorder that causes severe intellectual and physical disabilities and that he wouldn’t live beyond a week.
“They said you need to think about not only yourself but what about your daughter, that’s not fair to her to bring her brother into her life and then a week later he’s dead,” Debbie remembers her doctor saying.
But Debbie’s case isn’t rare. An analysis done by the New York Times of noninvasive prenatal tests show they’re wrong 85 percent of the time.
“As your risk of carrying a baby with Down Syndrome goes down, your risk of having a false positive goes up and that’s the data they’re not presenting,” said Dr. Tara Sander Lee, the director of life sciences at the Charlotte Lozier Institute.
Sander Lee says every day thousands of women across the globe get these false results – prompting them to seek out an abortion.
“If I would have listened to them because of a test to end his life, a test that wasn’t even true,” said Debbie.
“If the test is positive they are often pressured to abort this child and are given the worst possible scenario,” Sander Lee said.
She calls this a modern form of eugenics.
“This is a whole other layer to the abortion industry that is deceptive that at the heart of it wants to get rid of people who look and act differently,” said Sander Lee.
The tests are screenings, not a diagnosis. In Iceland close to one hundred percent of women who get positive results for down syndrome, terminate their pregnancies.
“They made it seem like he wasn’t even a human like oh you don’t want that,” said Debbie.
Currently more than a dozen states prohibit discrimination abortions based on prenatal screenings, New York is not one of them.