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If you’ve been looking for inspiration to get rid of some of that quarantine weight you might’ve put on, a new book explains the correlation between physical and spiritual fitness: “Running For a Higher Purpose: 8 Steps to Spiritual and Physical Fitness.”
It’s written by Bishop Thomas Paprocki from the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois. Bishop Paprocki completed 24 marathons. He joined Currents News to discuss what his motivation was for writing this book and how anyone can get a copy.
Police are looking for a man caught on camera vandalizing a church near Los Angeles. Video shows him taking a sledgehammer to a mural depicting the woman Catholics consider the mother of God.
“You feel bad. You have no words,” said Rev. Vito Di Marzio, St. Elisabeth Catholic Church’s pastor.
The pastor and parishioners at Saint Elisabeth Catholic Church were left saddened and stunned when they watched the security video.
It shows a man armed with a sledgehammer vandalizing a Virgin of Guadalupe mural, which overlooks an altar where people come to pray and light candles.
Father Vito Di Marzio says the unholy act happened around 1:30am Wednesday while he was sleeping on the other side of the building.
He thought someone was knocking on the door, so he went back to sleep. The next morning, he discovered what had happened.
“In the Catholic faith, the Virgin Mary is special because she is the mother of Jesus, the mother of God,” said Father Di Marzio.
The unidentified man dressed in black and wearing a bright green or yellow neck gaiter, approached the mural and took one swing before hopping up on the altar.
He then continued to angrily smash the tiles that make up the face of the Virgin Mary a dozen more times.
“I was shocked. I went to Mass, and I invited all the people to pray for the author of this sacrilegious act,” said Father Di Marzio.
The father called police to report the vandalism that defaced the hand-painted ceramic mural that was installed over 35 years ago as a symbol of unity.
“I’m not angry. Since the beginning, we were praying for him that he will repent and realize that it is something very wrong,” he said.
Father Di Marzio wants the suspect to be held accountable for what he did, but he also hopes the man will find help and healing from whatever issues he may be facing, saying “for sure, he needs some help, especially medical attention, I’m sure. He should ask for forgiveness, and the Lord will forgive him.”
The church says tiles in the mural will have to be replaced. Leaders plan to install bulletproof barriers in front of it.
Inside a small shelter in the eastern Coachella Valley, they’re in a race against time. Claudia Castorena is the founder and CFO of Galilee Center.
“We want to be ready ahead of time and prepare cots,” Claudia said.
She’s helping prepare their community room to house a bus full of asylum seekers recently released by immigration authorities.
“Right now, we are expecting 17 people from Murrieta and they’re going to be here in the next 20 to 25 minutes and then another bus from Yuma, 35 people,” Claudia said.
The buses come from nearby border towns. Those that test positive for COVID-19 are taken to hotels. Galilee Center provides them with food and clothing during their quarantine.Those that test negative are brought here.
“They receive everyday a clean pillow, pillow case, clean towel,” she said.
For Claudia, who came to this country as an undocumented immigrant, she says she is doing God’s work.
But not even a prophet could have prepared her for the latest immigrant surge.
“In the 30 years of providing social services, and human services in the Coachella valley . . . I’ve never seen it this way,” Claudia said.
Last year Galilee Center received a total of 125 migrants.
Since March, they’ve been getting that many every two to three days.
Exhausted, they stumble into the shelter with ankle monitors after being released by immigration authorities, capping off weeks on the road.
“Welcome to all of you,” Claudia said. “This is a Catholic shelter, we have no relation with immigration authorities.”
Claudia has hired 18 new people in the last few weeks, but it hasn’t been enough. So she’s running around helping Gabriela, a 21-year-old migrant woman shower and get clothes.
Gabriela says coming with her 2-year-old daughter was risky, but staying in Ecuador under the abuse of a relative was riskier.
“It was a hard decision,” Gabriela said. “Coming with my daughter was hard because sometimes we had nothing to eat, nothing to drink and she would ask for water or food and I had none to give her.”
One of the things that shocked her the most from the week-long journey was the number of people trying to come to the U.S.
“There were a lot of people,” she said. “A lot of migrants trying to get here. The ticket system for the bus had collapsed from all the people.”
Gabriela and the migrants will be here less than 24 hours, just long enough to shower, wash their clothes, eat, sleep and book the last leg of their trip.
Hours later a new set of buses will arrive to start the process all over again.
“We are helping, little by little, and even if it is one family at the time, that gives me a certain way of comfort in knowing that we made a difference for one family,” Claudia said.
Families that have come in search of a better life.
Nurse practitioner with American Addiction Centers, Albert Ofori, joined Currents News to discuss how exactly smoking marijuana can affect you. Albert works with people struggling with addictions every day.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced his support for changes in federal marijuana laws after New York became the 15th state, plus Washington D.C., to legalize it for recreational use.
“I support decriminalization at the federal level,” Sen. Schumer said, “and we’ll be introducing legislation with a few of my colleagues shortly.”
Gov. Andrew Cuomo quickly signed the bill into law, saying it was “about time,” after years of excessive policing along racial lines and easy access to the drug in neighboring states. Gov. Cuomo pushed the pot law on a brand new website, cannabis.ny.gov.
“This will raise revenue and end the over-criminalization of this product that has left so many communities of color over-policed and over-incarcerated,” he said.
But critics say it’s just a money grab for the state and that users will begin to abuse the drug. The Diocese of Brooklyn’s Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio is against the bill, saying the science is on his side.
“Marijuana unfortunately is like smoking,” the bishop said. “People who smoke are endangering their life. People who smoke marijuana will be doing the same thing, endangering their life with the possibility of cancer. That’s what science says.”
Bishop DiMarzio says the law puts the lives of teens and young adults at risk.
“The fact of the matter is we’re making this now available and young people will start to use it as young people think they’re invincible and nothing will affect them,” Bishop DiMarzio said. “This is not a good thing for our society in New York or any place else.”
A new study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse backs up those concerns. Adolescents are more likely to develop substance-use disorders after first trying cannabis because their brains are still developing.
This data is according to the study’s co-author, Dr. Emily Einstein, Chief of Science Policy at the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
“The earlier someone initiates substance use, the more of an impact it has on their brain development,” Dr. Einstein said. “We found that within the first 12 months of first trying cannabis in the 12-17 year age group, there was a 10.7 percent chance of developing a substance use disorder.”
While the study didn’t look at the reasons behind the findings, Dr. Einstein underscored the need for more research into how marijuana interacts with the brain.
“I think it’s important for adolescents and young adults to really understand what risk looks like as they encounter substances in their lives,” she said. “It’s very true that not everyone who takes a drug will develop addiction. There’s still a large chance that you will develop addiction and that chance is even larger if you start using substances at a younger age.”
Parts of the new law are already in effect in New York State with the federal government now looking to follow suit, but it could be an uphill climb. President Biden supports medical marijuana and decriminalizing it, but hasn’t called for its full legalization.
As more people leave New York City, three zip codes in the Diocese of Brooklyn are seeing thousands move out.
The Haitian community is celebrating a Brooklyn street renaming to honor Venerable Pierre Toussaint — the devout Catholic who was brought here as a slave and later became a freed man.
Fully vaccinated Americans may soon be able to travel to Europe for vacation.
Currents News Special Report — Going to Pot. Concerns grow over New York State legalizing marijuana as studies show minors could develop a substance-use disorder after trying it.
As Mass lets out of St. Matthew’s Church in Crown Heights, Father Frank Black can’t help but notice how much his community has changed.
“They lost their job, the bodega closed down, they couldn’t find anyone who needed home health care,” Father Black said. “It’s like this flurry of activity and trying to maintain some normalcy in the midst of a crazy time.”
Over the last year, more than 30 families from his parish have left and moved away from their home and neighborhood. It’s an exodus that Fr. Black says has been slow going, up until the pandemic.
“A lot of people can’t afford it anymore,” he said. “For middle class people in a neighborhood like this, and let’s face it, we have no millionaires and it’s a really, really challenging time. COVID was just the icing on the cake.”
According to a report by real estate firm CBRE, New York City lost 2.4 percent of its population, or about 200,000 people in 2020. Most of the zip codes with the highest move-out rates are wealthy Manhattan neighborhoods like the Upper East and West Sides and Tribeca – but also among them is Crown Heights.
The area’s three zip codes, including St. Matthew’s zip code, 11213, lost 5,796 residents in 2020. That’s 3,037 more than 2019.
It’s a change Fr. Black says he can see when he looks out onto the pews. But it’s not usually Fr. Black who hears about it first, it’s the church secretary Sharon Andrews – she hears a new story every week.
“She said she has no family here, she doesn’t have a job anymore, she lost her job because of the pandemic so she’s going to move to Georgia because she has family there who can help her,” Sharon said of one parishioner who recently left the church.
The exodus will have an eventual impact on the neighborhood, but it’s already having an impact on the church. Father Black says pre-pandemic the church was getting close to $20,000 a week in collections. Now it’s getting less than half of that.
“Even though people have given online and we put a mail slot in so they can come and deposit the envelopes, but the collections have dropped drastically,” he said.
CBRE predicts the rising popularity of the COVID-19 vaccine could put the city back on an upswing, but until then, St. Matthew’s and its parishioners are trying to survive where they are.
New York’s Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says that he and his colleagues will be introducing legislation to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level, but opponents oppose the move saying the unintended consequences will put young people at risk.
The move comes after Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently signed a bill into law allowing recreational use of cannabis throughout New York State. The Governor says it will raise revenue and end the practice of over policing in communities of color.
Parts of the new law are already in affect, but Brooklyn’s Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio is against it and cites the science behind his objections. A new study by the National Institute of Drug Abuse backs up those concerns, finding that children between the ages of 12 and 17 have more than a 10% chance of developing a substance use disorder after first trying marijuana.
Currents News will air a special report on legalizing pot and if it has a chance of becoming the law of the land.
Faithful were singing in the streets as Church Ave. in Flatbush got a new name: Pierre Toussaint.
Priests, Haitian-Americans, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer came out to celebrate the co-naming, placing a spotlight on his incredible legacy.
“He means everything to the Haitian community” explained Father Hilaire Belizaire, coordinator of the Haitian Ministry in the Diocese Of Brooklyn
“It’s really about raising awareness, the life, what Pierre Toussaint means to us,” Father Belizaire said.
Born in what is now Haiti, Toussaint was brought to America as a slave. He eventually became a freed man.
“When I look at the life of Pierre Toussaint, I feel empowered and inspired,” explained NYC Councilman Mathieu Eugene.
An inspiration, one of the reasons Councilman Mathieu presented the co-naming.
“It doesn’t matter where you came from, what is the color of your skin or language you talk, when you come to a new country, you’re going to face challenges, and for, Pierre Toussaint who had been a slave, if we are talking about challenges, its more than challenges,” Mathieu said, “but guess what, he didn’t give up.”
Toussaint was a devout Catholic and he used his life to help others, especially orphans, who he even opened his own home up to.
“For those who are poor, for those who need shelter, for those who need food, he did exactly what Jesus said to do, be your brother’s keeper,” Mathieu said.
He helped everyone, even those who enslaved him, explained Msgr. Paul Jervis.
“Very devout, he attended daily Mass, among the people that he cared for, were the people that enslaved him,” said Msgr. Jervis. “It’s really unbelievable.”
Toussaint was declared venerable more than 20 years ago. That means he’s on the path to sainthood.
Now his name will forever look over the people of New York City, just like he did.