Yer Man’s Irish Pub Fights to Stay Open Through Omicron Surge

By Jessica Easthope

Everything’s stocked and ready for a full house – but it’s not likely that there will be more than a few customers today at Yer Man’s Irish pub in Glendale, Queens.

“It was getting back to some kind of normalcy, but then omicron came in and destroyed everything,” said owner Jimmy O’Reilly.

Owner Jimmy remembers a time when he would make more than $1,000 dollars during lunch. But over the last two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, those memories have been replaced with struggle, a roller coaster of emotions and desperation. He’s down 65 percent of his business.

“You never know what’s going to come around the corner,” he said, “they could shut it down, hopefully they won’t, the new mayor promised.”

From the outside looking in, Jimmy’s precautions and provisions seemed like a business owner trying to appease city leaders and show them that he could comply, but that’s not how Jimmy sees it at all.

“The barriers I put up for my family that work here, my employees are like family,” he said.

It costs Jimmy $17,000 dollars a week just to keep his doors open. He says businesses have been tossed aside and he imagines the city feels just like he does: broken.

“I still love New York,” Jimmy said. “It needs to be put back together the way it was. Hopefully Mayor Eric Adams, hopefully [he] brings this beautiful New York City that we love, that we used to love, falling out of love with it – back, the quicker the better.”

With business worse now than during the height of the pandemic, Jimmy says his story isn’t one of loss but of resilience. He’s going to keep fighting – that’s one thing he’ll never lose.

Evangelization Through Media: Father Christopher Heanue

Father Christopher Heanue, the new Rector of the Co-Cathedral of Saint Joseph and pastor of St. Teresa of Avila returns to On The Block to speak with Ed Wilkinson about his new role and how he uses the media to create a parish that reaches beyond the pew

Three Takeaways Catholics Should Know After New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s State Address

Currents News Staff

COVID was a big topic when New York’s first female governor, Kathy Hochul, delivered her state of the state address. Gov. Hochul spoke for a little more than a half hour before a limited, socially distanced audience in the assembly chamber of the State capitol in Albany.

She’s only been in office for 134 days after taking over for disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo. Still, Hochul said she has more than 200 proposals to make the State better.

Joining Currents News was St. John’s University Political Science Professor Brian Browne to delve deeper into the issues mentioned by the New York governor.

Will There be any Changes to the Diocese of Brooklyn Synod Process due to Omicron?

Currents News Staff

Despite the rise in coronavirus cases across the city, Bishop Robert Brennan says the Catholic Church will continue to remain open providing a lifeline so many desperately need.

The Diocese of Brooklyn has consistently taken special precautions to protect against the spread of the variant: some of those include mask-wearing, a moratorium on the distribution of wine, and no handshakes during the sign of peace.

The synod’s diocesan phase is also well-underway in Brooklyn and Queens with listening sessions being held at the ground level to get feedback from parishioners.

Bishop Brennan joined Currents News to talk more about what his plans are to keep the process going despite the omicron outbreak.

Catholic News Headlines for Wednesday, 1/5/22

As New York City battles the omicron virus, the surge is not keeping Catholic school students at home – schools in the Diocese of Brooklyn are open and following COVID safety guidelines.

COVID hospitalizations are topping 10,000 for the first time in 20 months in New York State.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul delivers her first state of the state address.

Pope Francis went to the circus – actually the circus came to him!

Diocese of Brooklyn Schools Remain Open Amid Omicron Surge

By Jessica Easthope

First graders at St. Mel’s Catholic Academy in Flushing, Queens are back in the classroom for the first time in 2022. Their first two days of school started remote because seven teachers were out with COVID-19, but now they’re back.

“It was a tough decision to make, but in light of the staffing situation we had and the rise in Omicron, I believe it was the right one,” said St. Mel’s principal Amy Barron.

Amy shows excitement differently. For her, it’s more like relief that her students are back in the place where they’re safest.

“We haven’t seen any outbreaks within the school,” she said. “Isolated incidents are unfortunately happening everywhere but the important thing is how we respond to them and that we keep our kids safe.”

Masks are still up and hands are still being sanitized – just some of the many precautions that allowed 70 percent of schools in the Diocese of Brooklyn to open in person on Monday.

Once there were enough teachers, Amy brought students back knowing they’re protected and getting the most they can out of school in their classrooms.

“Nothing takes the place of a live teacher, the interaction, the support they get you can only get that in person,” she said.

It’s the little things that count, says one of the school teachers.

“The little things like telling them they’re doing a good job, being able to give them that one-on-one support, you can’t do that on Zoom,” said first-grade teacher, Samantha Murphy.

And it’s the little things for the students too – like sharpening a pencil, scooters in gym and what Samantha’s first graders call “a brain break” are all things that can’t happen over Zoom. Teachers say the COVID precautions are a small sacrifice for a big payoff.

“To the kids, it’s their new normal. They know it’s what they have to do to go to school and it works out for all of us,” Samantha said.

St. Mel’s welcomed back kindergarten through fourth grade on Wednesday, Jan. 5. The Catholic academy is hoping to do the same for its Pre-k classes next Monday.

Symbol of Hope: How a Blessed Mother Statue Survived Colorado Wildfire ‘Inferno’ Untouched

By Currents News Staff and Dennis Sadowski

LOUISVILLE, Colo. (CNS) — Amid the smoldering ashes of his family’s recently remodeled Louisville, Colorado, home that was destroyed by a Dec. 30 wildfire, Tom Greany found hope in a symbol of his deep Catholic faith.

A statue of Mary that he and his wife Kat had placed outside their home was left unscathed except for the soot that covered its right side.

“Bricks appeared to have fallen all around her — some probably even hit her. But she didn’t even fall over,” Greany wrote in a reflection shared with Catholic News Service by a friend, who asked to remain unidentified. He wrote about what happened just hours after the blaze raced through the suburban communities of Louisville and Superior, about 20 miles northwest of Denver.

Greany wrote that the discovery of the statue is a reminder of how their faith provides protection and can “sustain us through everything.”

The Greanys were among hundreds of families who lost their homes in the wildfire driven by winds estimated to top 100 mph. In the Greanys’ Louisville neighborhood, 50 of 55 homes were destroyed. The other five were untouched.

Authorities said 991 structures, including businesses, were destroyed and another 127 damaged. Flames from what is called the Marshall Fire swept through more than 6,000 acres, devastating entire neighborhoods before snow helped extinguish the blazes. Residents said they fled with few possessions through dense smoke that turned the sky orange.

The Archdiocese of Denver reported on its website that two parishes — St. Louis in Louisville and Sacred Heart of Mary outside Boulder — were evacuated as flames advanced, but were undamaged. The fire nearly reached Sacred Heart, seemingly blocked by a roadway.

Both parishes as well as St. Thomas Aquinas University Parish in Boulder and Immaculate Conception Parish in Lafayette, northeast of Louisville, were helping affected families.

Saying the ferociousness of the flames “shocked everyone,” Denver Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila quickly established an emergency fund Dec. 31, seeding it with $250,000. He asked that parishes throughout the archdiocese take a special collection at Masses the weekend of Jan. 8-9.

“To those affected by these fires, know that Joseph and Mary had to flee with Jesus shortly after he was born. The Holy Family is close to you and knows the anguish and loss you are feeling,” the archbishop said in a statement posted on the archdiocesan website.

Archbishop Aquila also encouraged parishes and other agencies to help those who fled — with little more than the clothes they were wearing, computers and important documents — by hosting families, opening food pantries and offering other services.

Recovery was complicated by cold weather and the onset of snow following an unusually warm and dry fall and early winter in the area located near the Rocky Mountains.

The fire in the middle of the holiday season remained under investigation. Authorities have focused on a property south of Boulder where the fire is believed to have started, Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle told reporters Jan. 2.

In the aftermath, the Greany family is counting on Mary to intercede for them as they seek to rebuild their lives.

“It stings to look at this — our home and all of its contents were lost,” Greany said in his reflection. “The Christmas giving we had celebrated with our sons up in smoke along with everything else they and we owned. The entire neighborhood gone in less than a day.”

“Awareness of the loss stings mightily,” he continued. “But we can only feel the loss as pain because of the extraordinary magnitude of the gifts we have been given in our lives. How richly blessed we are!

He said his family’s home was not burned to teach them a lesson, but it did give them the chance to experience God’s comfort through Mary’s intercession.

Greany is also convinced no one can take away his family’s faith and their trust that the Holy Family is “looking out for us.”

“They love us and they care,” he wrote, adding: “They pray for us. And they pray for the world in these dark times we live in.”

Donations in support of the recovery can be made to a special fund here: Marshall Fire Recovery Assistance Fund

Catholic News Headlines for Tuesday, 1/4/22

Parishioners of Saint Helena’s in Parkchester are rising from the ashes of their church – rebuilding, after a fire tore through it the day after Christmas.

Meanwhile in the city’s public schools, where nearly one million kids were expected to return to class on Monday, only 67 percent of students showed up.

It was a close call for one priest in Uruguay, as he almost won MasterChef Celebrity!

St. Helena’s Church Community Builds Up Foundation of Faith After Devastating Fire

By Jessica Easthope

Suzanne Piscitelli goes to Mass every day. She doesn’t need a big church or ornate decorations, all she needs is Christ – that’s why a small room in the back of St. Helena’s Church property is just fine.

“Father David has done everything in his power to make this a little chapel, making parishioners feel welcome and like Jesus is welcoming them to come to Mass,” said Suzanne.

Parishioners go there to worship now; the rumble of the No. 6 train muffles their prayers. Inside the main church, it’s silent except for the hum of filters and generators.

The day after Christmas, a six-alarm fire in an electrical panel ripped through the sacristy. The flames were contained – but the damage is extensive and a strong smell of smoke lingered.

Father David Powers, pastor, says the church hasn’t missed a Mass and celebrating in a room that fits 24 instead of the church that fits 1,200 is allowing people to get back to basics.

“I don’t think the location is as important as the people who come, ‘where there are two or more gathered in my name I am present’ and that’s really what this is all about,” said Father Powers.

“You don’t have to be in church to pray or have God present, He’s with us all the time,” Suzanne said.

As the church community recovers, Father Powers says it’s a chance to make the building and foundation of faith even stronger.

“Something like this motivates you to say how can we make things better and it does encourage one to evaluate their priorities and say I want to have a more intense relationship with the Lord,” he said.

Father Powers estimates the cost of the damage reaches into the hundreds of thousands with the church having to pay for whatever insurance doesn’t cover. He’s hoping to be celebrating Mass at the main altar again in March.

Catholic News Headlines for Monday, 1/3/22

One school in the Diocese of Brooklyn is tackling “pandemic burnout” in a holistic way.

NYC’S new mayor doesn’t believe we can continue to shut the city down every time a new variant comes up.

On the first Sunday of the new year, Pope Francis welcomed pilgrims to Saint Peters Square.