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Legends came to life at Bay Ridge Catholic Academy.
Fifth graders at the Brooklyn Catholic school created elaborate drawings inspired by ancient Greece, and even got into character.
“I’m dressed up as Persephone, the daughter of Demeter. She likes plants and to harvest things, and you know I like nature,” said fifth grader Lia Cafiero.
“I’m dressed up as Atalanta, who is a huntress and is really fast,” explained fellow fifth grader Alessia Scheidler. “So she has these gold wristbands and this long dress because that’s what they wore in her age.”
The academy’s gym was set up like an exposition hall with the students’ projects on display. Students were able to demonstrate what they had learned in class over the past few months.
“We learned that Apollo was the god of the sun,” fifth grader Joseph Patrick Baez told Currents News. “And also we learned a funny thing that Phaethon, the son of Apollo, caused total catastrophe when he rode his father’s chariot throughout the sky.”
“I wrote the summary, and we just decided today that they would be acting it out,” explained fifth grader Miriam Dodds, “because we thought it would intrigue people who are coming.”
Other grades and parents, like Christina Cafiero, were invited to learn more about Greek mythology.
“I think it’s also great. Instead of just sitting at a desk all the time learning, they were up and doing things,” Cafiero told Currents News. “They were on the phone chatting about what they’re going to do, planning their costumes and planning their boards together.”
Fifth grade teacher Patrick Hunter said he hoped the project would help the lessons sink in by turning students into educators for the day.
“It gives them the opportunity to think deeply about a specific myth, use different ways of understanding, like drawing and looking at pictures,” Hunter said. “And that storytelling is a really important way of engaging the mind.”
The expo wrapped up the students’ lesson on mythology, and each student will be graded for their work.
Fourth-grader Soyela Morisseau walks taller through the halls of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Academy. She recently participated in a school-wide speech competition, where her piece on Rosa Parks earned her first place in her grade. It’s quite the accomplishment, considering a year ago Soyela spoke not a word of English.
“I didn’t know I was going to win,” Morisseau said. “I said, oh my God, I won and my teacher said, ‘you are acting so crazy right now.'”
Morisseau arrived from Haiti with her family in November 2024. A new country and a new school wasn’t exactly easy.
“I didn’t talk in class because I didn’t know the language,” she said. “And I was so confused what people are saying.”
But in a class of 12, Soyela caught up.
“My teacher doesn’t have a lot of people to deal with in the class,” Morisseau said. “So I can talk with her to learn English.”\\
Diocese of Brooklyn schools class sizes average just under 17 students, with most ranging from 12 to 24. While New York City public school averages continue to drop after a 2022 law mandates annual reductions, Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration is looking to keep classes small in all corners of the country’s largest school system. To pull it off he needs ten thousand additional teachers, 700 million dollars in additional funding according to the city’s Independent Budget Office and years.
“I provided the teachers with materials, dictionaries that had Creole and English,” said Principal Lorraine Pierre. “And the teachers paired up with other kids who could speak Creole. So that’s more or less what we tried to do as much as possible to make sure that she understood what was going on.”
After 28 years as a public school teacher, Pierre says New York City can take a page out of the Diocese of Brooklyn’s book.
“A class more than 25,” Pierre said. “Then you’re losing kids by the buckets because it’s hard to identify those who need the additional help, or even those who are excelling and need to be pushed.”
And Morisseau is proof of what a small class can do for a student.
“Nobody didn’t leave me out of everything that they did,” she said.
“We need to not let any child slip through the cracks,” Pierre said. “We can’t afford to do that.”
New York City’s future goal of reducing class sizes is already a reality here—and it’s helping students like Morisseau dream big.
As New York City considers a major public school overhaul centered on smaller class sizes, one Catholic academy in Brooklyn is already seeing what that can mean for students. A fourth grader’s rapid progress is offering a powerful example of how individualized attention can make a difference.
Sander Cheung’s mind races. His ideas need to come fast, because AI technology is faster.
Cheung would know. He’s been engineering AI for decades, long before it was a hot topic.
“I was all into math and science and engineering,” he said. “Back then there was not a popular term for AI.”
When he moves back to Tokyo in the spring, Cheung will step into the chief operating officer role of an organization using AI-powered robots to build houses. But he has something important to do in New York first — get baptized Catholic.
“He has all the answers,” Cheung said. “It’s almost as if I’m reading the science of the faith because it’s so logical.”
An accomplished skier, Cheung was seriously injured in an accident on the slopes two years ago and has been rehabilitating ever since. One day while walking down Queens Boulevard, he passed Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church in Forest Hills — and his life changed forever.
“I heard the church bell ring. I just had this imagination there’s a fatherly figure standing there. I went up there and I got really emotional and I said, ‘I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.’ And I imagined that he gave me a hug. It really changed my life that day.”
Cheung, who is Chinese but has lived much of his life in Japan, said he became caught up in the social demands of one of the most secular countries in the world. According to Pew Research, about 50% of people in Japan report having no religion.
“In secular society like what I experienced in Japan, a lot of people, they are not happy because your life revolves around work. I just thought the only way to do that — to be touched by Christianity,” Cheung said.
Now at 55, Cheung is preparing to receive the sacraments. And he is not leaving AI behind — he is bringing it with him.He hopes the AI homes his organization is building could one day help solve the homelessness crisis.
“When I go back to Tokyo — I want to be a soldier for Christ,” he said.
Cheung said he now believes AI and religion do not have to compete — they can collaborate. And there is nothing artificial about that.
The Diocese of Brooklyn’s Lenten pilgrimage moved forward March 10 as pilgrims arrived at St. Mary Mother of Jesus parish in Gravesend.
Monsignor Andrew Vaccari, the pastor, celebrated the opening Mass for the stop.
In his homily, he thanked parishioners for taking time to focus on the Lord and encouraged them to carry their faith with them to each parish they visit.
Following the Mass, Monsignor Vaccari exposed the Blessed Sacrament and led the rosary.
The parish doors remained open throughout the day for all who wished to participate in the liturgical celebrations.The pilgrimage is approaching a key milestone.
March 12 marks the halfway point for participants in the Diocese of Brooklyn.
More than 1,200 people in the Diocese of Brooklyn are preparing to join the Catholic Church and receive their sacraments at the Easter Vigil. One of them is a computer engineer from Japan who realized he was missing the one thing AI can’t replace: Christ.
Students at St. John’s University in Queens joined together in a show of solidarity with pediatric cancer patients, cutting hair and raising funds for cancer research through the St. Baldrick’s Foundation.
Pope Leo XIV is mourning the loss of those killed by the war in the Middle East, including a Maronite priest who died trying to help his people in Lebanon.
But unlike the famous Biblical tale of Delilah tricking Samson into losing his strength by cutting his hair, these students voluntarily lost their locks for a good cause.
On March 9, dozens of students participated in a fundraiser for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, an organization that raises money for pediatric cancer research. The students agreed to have their heads shaved to show solidarity with children battling cancer who have lost their hair during chemotherapy treatments.
“As a young man, I realize that I am lucky to be in good health. This shows solidarity with kids who don’t have that same good fortune,” said sophomore Joseph Kinsella, just before he sat in the barber’s chair to have hair stylist Manny Keith shave off his hair. “If I can do something small like this and raise money for them, it means a lot.”
His friend, Salvatore Martucci, a junior, who also agreed to shave his head, said he wanted to raise awareness of pediatric cancer.
“And I love the fact that it brings the community together,” Martucci said. “There are a lot of people out here in support.’
The St. John’s students raised $12,400 toward their $20,000 goal.
The fundraiser, which took place in the D’Angelo Center on the St. John’s campus, was co-hosted by the university’s Student Government Inc., Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, and Office of Student Conduct. The event had the atmosphere of a major sporting event, with each participant earning loud cheers from the crowd as their names were announced before stepping onto a stage where two barber chairs had been set up.
Brendan Blomquist, a sophomore who playfully pointed to his shaved head, confessed to feeling a little nervous beforehand.
“I was growing my hair out for a year. But I came here today because I thought of all the kids who have cancer who lose their hair,” he said. “This is a way to show them we care.”
Female students also braved the barber’s chair, though they chose haircuts rather than a razor.
The St. Baldrick’s fundraiser is so popular at St. John’s University that alumni like Blanca Moreno, who graduated last year, come back to take part in the event. Moreno gets a kick out of showing everyone the ponytail that hairstylist Manny Keith has just cut off.
In addition to having their heads shaved or trimmed, the students spent the past several weeks soliciting donations from friends and loved ones.
The fundraising effort will continue, said Jack Flynn, assistant dean of students, who joined the students in getting his head shaved.
Founded in 1999, the St. Baldrick’s Foundation promotes and encourages pediatric cancer fundraisers worldwide in which participants shave their heads.
The foundation’s name is derived from a clever combination of the word “Bald” and St. Patrick’s name. The first head-shaving fundraiser took place on St. Patrick’s Day in 2000.
St. John’s University has a special connection to the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, said Flynn, who noted that John Bender of the Class of 1987 co-founded the organization.
St. John’s being a Catholic institution founded by the Congregation of the Mission (more commonly known as the Vincentians) is another big reason for its participation in St. Baldrick’s, Flynn added.
“You cannot be a Vincentian institution without service to those in need,” he explained.
Michael Aruta, a senior, noted how lucky the students are.
“We can choose to shave our heads. If my hair grows back in six months, I can live with that,” Aruta said. “But children with cancer don’t have that choice. They don’t choose to lose their hair. It just happens to them.”
Aruta was eager to participate but admitted that his mother “wasn’t thrilled” by the idea of a bald son. “I took my graduation photos today, before coming here for this. So, I think it’ll be OK,” he said with a smile.
More than 1,200 people are preparing to fully join the Catholic Church at Easter Vigil Masses across Brooklyn and Queens this year, according to the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Secretariat for Evangelization and Catechesis.
Of those, 605 will receive the sacraments of confirmation and the Eucharist during the Vigil.
An additional 683 will be baptized, confirmed and receive the Eucharist, completing their initiation into the faith.
To put a face to the numbers, Currents News spoke with Damari Machado, a parishioner at Holy Child Jesus Church in Richmond Hill who is preparing to enter the Catholic Church this Easter.
Machado shared that although her parents converted from Catholicism to Pentecostalism after immigrating to the United States from El Salvador, she felt drawn to Catholicism through her own experiences and questions of faith. Part of that journey began by watching the deep devotion her friends had to Our Lady of Guadalupe — a devotion that gradually became personal for her as well.
She recalled praying to Our Lady of Guadalupe before a difficult statistics exam, asking for strength and calm, and said that moment became a turning point in her faith life. From there, her Catholic journey continued to deepen.
Machado also spoke about how her parents have responded to her decision, her engagement and her fiancé’s support as she prepares to receive the sacraments, and how entering the Church has already begun to change her life.
She will receive her sacraments at the Easter Vigil, and Currents News looks forward to following up with her after that joyful moment.
In just a few short weeks hundreds of people in the Diocese of Brooklyn will be in full communion with Catholics, receiving their sacraments at the Easter Vigil.
One man’s journey to the Church has spanned hundreds of miles: an engineer from Japan realized he was missing the one thing AI can’t replace – Christ.