By Jessica Easthope
Mike Earley walks around knowing his days are numbered. That’s because he has stage four pancreatic cancer and was given one year to live – that was seven months ago.
“It’s debilitating,” Mike said. “I haven’t been able to leave the house much. I have very, very bad weakness in my legs.”
But his battle with cancer isn’t the only one Mike feels like he’s losing. After working tirelessly since June to get the New York City Employees’ Retirement System – commonly known as NYCERS – to approve his disability pension, Mike was approved. The pension would give him and his family 75 percent of his salary, but his work and his waiting is far from over.
“They’ve been running me in circles since June,” he said. “It’s not fair to the people who are waiting. I made it six months, what if I don’t make it another six months?”
Mike served the city of New York as an EMS captain for nearly 30 years. His cancer is 9/11 related.
“They really didn’t push masks at the beginning,” Mike said, “then it got to the point we had to wear masks. Was it too late at that point? I don’t know.”
Now Mike wants to make sure his wife and two daughters are taken care of when he’s gone. After saying there wasn’t enough proof of just how sick he was, NYCERS could take up to another eight months to get Mike his full pension.
“In six months if I don’t make it past the prognosis date what happens to my family?” he asked. “What happens to the house we just bought, are they homeless? At this point all I care about is my family.”
The agency says 58 percent of applicants seeking disability pensions get an answer within four months. But World Trade Center Liaison for Local 2507, Gary Smiley, who’s also battling NYCERS, says the system is broken.
“In 2021, no one wants to be a World Trade Center first responder,” Gary said. “Every day you’re looking over your shoulder wondering what’s going to happen to you medically. We’re all sick.”
Mike says now all he can do is pray.
“I don’t have the strength to go to church, but I pray to God all day long and I’m a firm believer He knows what I’m going through and He’s going to help me,” Mike said.
His hope is that the city does right by him.
“What more do you need to know? To say ‘okay this guy worked 28 and a half years with the fire department taking care of the city’, how about the city takes care of him? At this point all I care about is my family.”
Currents News Staff
As residents in Kentucky cope with death and destruction in the wake of tornadoes and severe storms, President Joe Biden traveled to the Bluegrass State Wednesday – getting a first-hand look at the devastation. One survivor recalled the tragic moment.
“It was really difficult to breathe,” said Jim Douglas, who survived the Candle Factory collapse. “I was definitely being crushed.”
The president arrived in Fort Campbell for a briefing – followed by visits to Mayfield and Dawson Springs – two of the towns hardest hit.
“The way people just come out of nowhere to help as a community, and that’s what it’s supposed to be, that’s what America’s supposed to be,” said President Joe Biden. “There’s no red tornadoes or blue tornadoes, there’s no red states or blue states when this stuff starts to happen.”
Over the weekend, at least 88 people were killed in the storms impacting parts of the Midwest and the South – including at least 71 in Kentucky, according to the state’s governor. More than 100 people in Kentucky remain missing, with thousands more still without power.
“We are now delivering life sustaining support, search and rescue operations, the delivery of food, water, blankets and emergency shelter, providing generators to get nursing homes and medical facilities up and running again,” said Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas.
Currents News Staf
As Currents News reported yesterday, the tornado in Kentucky wiped everything in one Catholic church except for a statue of Mary. It’s the only church for miles.
National Correspondent for The Tablet and Crux, John Lavenburg is also in Kentucky surveying the same areas as the president.
Lavenburg reported from Dawson Springs at Resurrection Church. He joined Currents News to discuss details on what the devastation aftermath looks like and the pulse of residents and churches.
If you’d like to lend a helping hand to Resurrection Parish and others affected by the tornadoes, just head on over to owensboro.org/give and make sure to click on “tornado relief-catholic charities” for the donation destination.
Father Carl McCarthy from Christ the King in Madisonville, Kentucky says his church was spared from the path of the tornadoes.
Now, with the help of some local Catholic high school students, his parish is organizing and distributing relief supplies to neighboring areas.
He joins Currents News to discuss the aftermath of the storms and how the Catholic community is pitching in.
To find out how you can help visit: https://owensborodiocese.org/give/
Currents News Staff
Bishop Robert Brennan got to see several Catholic school students in action on Tuesday, Dec. 14 as he made his first official school visit as Bishop of Brooklyn.
Bishop Brennan went to Holy Family Catholic Academy in Fresh Meadows, Queens and St. Nicholas of Tolentine Catholic Academy in Jamaica.
He went classroom to classroom and even read to 1st and 2nd graders. The Bishop of Brooklyn says visits like these will help him with his plans for youth ministry.
“It’s all based on human interaction. We meet people and we meet people where they are. So, it’s the first step in any relationship is getting to know each other,” said Bishop Brennan.
Bishop Brennan also received some drawings from the young students.
The Diocese of Brooklyn got into the spirit of Christmas Monday night with a concert at the Emmaus Center that benefitted Futures in Education.
Bishop Robert Brennan met with Catholic school students in Brooklyn on Tuesday.
Tornado cleanup efforts are intensifying in Kentucky as the National Guard is now joining rescuers as they comb through the ruins in hopes for a miracle.
By Jessica Easthope
The average cost of a wake and funeral is $8,000 and if there’s a burial, it’s higher. Before the pandemic, a traditional monument used to cost $3,400, but now it’s going for twice that.
“There are so many things out of our control that we’ve never experienced before,” said Michael Cassara, owner of Supreme Memorials in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.
Like most other industries, Michael is struggling to keep up with supply chain delays.
Over the last several months, Michael says material and labor shortages have created a cycle of setbacks. The shortages have caused costs to skyrocket. Some of the granite used to make the stones he sells have gone up 30 percent. And though the business’ volume is also up that much, their profits have stayed the same.
“We’ve never called somebody up and said ‘hey the granite went up thirty percent’, we eat all that,” said Michael. We’re a family business. We’ve been here for 70 years. Me and my brother are the fourth generation so the most important thing is satisfying our families.”
And the time it takes for families to get the closure that comes along with properly laying their loved one to rest has gone up dramatically. From the time it was designed and the order was placed, a stone used to take 12 to 14 weeks before it was in the cemetery on the grave. Michael says now it takes six months.
For a memorial to be set by Christmas, the cut off used to be Oct. 1, but due to delays this year, Michael made it Aug. 1. Many still won’t be in for the holiday.
“Being Catholic, I understand how important it is to go to the cemetery and put down a grave blanket, but it’s crazy,” he said.
Michael has no choice but to be patient and apologize for the delays even though it’s out of his hands – he anticipates delays could last up to another year.
By Jessica Easthope and Paula Katinas
It was a night of songs, laughter, and warm wishes as Futures in Education presented the “Spirit of Christmas Concert” at the new Emmaus Center on Monday.
The concert, featuring performances by Grammy-nominated contemporary Christian singer-songwriter Matt Maher and famed tenor Danny Rodriguez, marked the grand debut of the Emmaus Center as a prime venue for arts and culture for the Diocese of Brooklyn.
“Merry almost Christmas! Are you having a good Advent so far?” Maher asked as he stood on stage with his guitar and his backup band. He performed songs from his album, “The Advent of Christmas.”
Rodriguez set the mood initially, combining the renewal of a hometown landmark with musical classics of the season. He began with a powerful rendition of “Do You Hear What I Hear?”
Another performer, tenor Christopher Macchio, held the audience spellbound with a show-stopping version of “Ave Maria.”
There was also time for laughter. At one point, actor Dan Roebuck reached into his pocket to pull out a piece of paper. Out came a metaphorical lump of coal. “I’ve been in Brooklyn all of three hours and I got a ticket!” he announced.
Officially dedicated in June, the 600-seat Emmaus Center is housed in the historic Williamsburg Opera House, a majestic performance space built in 1897. The center, located above Saints Peter and Paul Church, also contains an art gallery and a space for receptions.
“This is a big night for us. It’s the start of hopefully big things,” said Msgr. Jamie Gigantiello, diocesan vicar for development and chairman of the board of the Emmaus Center.
A theme of Christmas generosity was implicit in the role of Futures in Education, a non-profit organization supporting students in Catholic schools of Brooklyn and Queens. Funds raised at the concert will help provide financial aid.
Lauren McCormack, director of Mission Advancement for Futures in Education, said the concert raised over $100,000.
Actor Anthony Mangano, who served as master of ceremonies, told The Tablet in an interview that the best thing about the event is the debut of the Emmaus Center as an important arts venue for the Diocese of Brooklyn.
“We’ll be able to go there and see things on an ongoing basis,” he said prior to the gala event. “Concerts and all sorts of things can be done there, which I think is really amazing. You never really had anything like that,” said Mangano, who hosted the Emmy Award-winning series “City of Churches” on NET-TV. He recalled advising that performance planning always focuses on Carnegie Hall: “You don’t have to do that anymore because we have our own place.”
Craig Tubiolo, the center’s executive director, said he is hoping to present a cornucopia of arts events, including live theater, films, concerts, talks by artists, and art exhibitions.
Roebuck, the host of “Classic” on NET-TV, said opening a performing arts center in Williamsburg, a trendy neighborhood with a vibrant arts scene, was a good step in evangelization.
“The diocese is extraordinarily smart to understand that reaching people in a different way, through the arts, is important,” Roebuck told The Tablet before the concert. “It’s the same Jesus. But you’re giving people a different way in. Going into a neighborhood filled with artists is brilliant.”
Bishop Robert Brennan touched on the same theme in his welcoming remarks onstage. “You go where the people are. And in Brooklyn, we know where the people are!” he said.
The performance center owes its name to Luke 24:13-35. In that passage, two disciples on the road to Emmaus grieved the death of Jesus. Then, a stranger walked up and reminded them how the crucifixion fulfilled a prophecy. The disciples later realized the stranger was the resurrected Christ.
Renovation of the ornate building — which had fallen into disrepair in the early 2000s — began in 2016. That work stretched into this year.
Then-Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, who joined Bishop Brennan in the concert audience, had called the renovation a “monumental task.” Upon its recent completion, he proclaimed, “It is most beautiful, and certainly worthy of God.”
A New York family is making world records a holiday tradition as they’ve landed themselves in the Guinness Book for a second time thanks to their amazing lights display.
The dazzling arrangement features 686,811 lights – not to mention, spirals, snowmen, animals and icicles all choreographed to 250 different songs.
It takes Tim and Grace Gay and their three kids eight weekends and eight total miles of extension cables to prep the amazing display, which they use to raise funds for local firefighters and charities.
In 2020, the family raised more than $80,000.