Vandal Damages Virgin Mary Icon, Doors at Queens Church

By Currents News

In the Diocese of Brooklyn, a statue of the Holy Family was defaced over the weekend.

The New York Police Department has charged 38-year-old Freddy Genao with a hate crime after he reportedly damaged an image of the Blessed Mother at Holy Family Church in Fresh Meadows, Queens.

Police say that on the evening of June 21 he used a crowbar to break the face of the statue and damage the parish’s two front doors.

The church’s pastor, Father Sean Suckiel, says officers were already in the area while the vandal was committing the crime and arrested him upon arrival.

This is the second time the three sculptures depicting Mary, Joseph, and the Child Jesus were defaced: around the same time last year, the statue of the Son of God was decapitated.

Celebrating the Feast of Corpus Christi in the Diocese of Brooklyn

By Currents News

You may have seen them in your neighborhood: hundreds of Catholics processing through the streets of Brooklyn and Queens for Corpus Christi Sunday, June 22.

Among some of the processions of faith that happened during the third weekend of June, 2025:

The faithful of St. Sebastian’s Church shut down the streets of Woodside as they walked with Christ in Queens.
About 1,000 people from three churches in Bay Ridge took part in a Brooklyn, beginning their prayers with the Blessed Sacrament at St. Anselm Church with a bilingual Mass before travelling to Our Lady of Angels for adoration, and ending with benediction at St. Andrew the Apostle.

Catholic News Headlines for Monday 6/23/2025

Catholic leaders, including Pope Leo XIV are pleading for peace after the U.S. launched airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites.

A man has been charged with a hate crime after defacing a statue of the Blessed Mother and damaging church property at Holy Family Church in Queens.

Hundreds of Catholics filled the streets of Brooklyn and Queens for the feast of Corpus Christi.

The 2025 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage concluded in Los Angeles, marking the end of a 3,000-mile journey across 10 states.

‘Stop the Tragedy of War,’ Pope Says After US Bombs Iran

By Currents News and Cindy Wooden

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Hours after the United States bombed the sites of three nuclear-enrichment facilities in Iran, Pope Leo XIV called the situation in the Middle East “alarming” and said diplomacy was the only responsible way forward.

“Every member of the international community has a moral responsibility: Stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable abyss,” the pope said June 22 after reciting the Angelus prayer with thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square.

In Washington late June 21, President Donald Trump announced that “the U.S. military carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime: Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan.”

“Our objective,” Trump said, “was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s number one state sponsor of terror.”

“Tonight I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success,” Trump said, adding that the facilities had been “completely and totally obliterated.” The U.S. president also threatened that if Iran did not “make peace” then “future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier.”

The U.S. bombings came 10 days after Israel began carrying out attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities and its military infrastructure, leading Iran to retaliate by firing missiles at Israel. Officials have reported that the strikes have killed at least 400 people in Iran and 24 people in Israel.

Addressing the crowds in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Leo said people all over the world were praying and crying for peace.

“It is a cry that calls for responsibility and reason and must not be drowned out by the din of weapons,” Pope Leo said. “There is no faraway conflict when human dignity is at stake.”

In addition, the pope said, with the “dramatic scenario” of the bombing of Iran, “the daily suffering of people, especially in Gaza and other territories, risks falling into oblivion” as the attention of the world turns elsewhere.

“War does not solve problems, but rather it amplifies them and produces deep wounds in the history of people that take generations to heal,” he said. “No armed victory can compensate for the pain of mothers, the fear of children, the stolen future.”

“Let diplomacy silence the weapons,” Pope Leo said. “Let nations chart their future with works of peace, not with violence and bloody conflicts!”

June 25 at 7 pm on Currents News: Pulse of the Parish, St. Stanislaus Kostka

By Currents News

If you need help at St. Stanislaus Kostka in Maspeth, Queens, everyone knows you call Marge Migliaccio.

On Saturdays you’ll find this parishioner of 30 years in the rectory, sifting through the donation envelopes collected during Mass.

It may be Migliaccio’s paid job, but it’s the unpaid jobs she performs for the parish that she says are most rewarding.

Catholic News Headlines for Wednesday 6/18/2025

A deacon from France is preparing to become a priest in the Diocese of Brooklyn, and he says New York City already feels like home to him.

The National Eucharistic Revival is almost done with its 2025 pilgrimage after celebrating Father’s Day and Trinity Sunday.

Pope Leo XIV will soon be going on a summer trip – we’ll tell you where.

Meet the Priests: Deacon Benoît Chavanne From France Prepares for Ordination in the Diocese of Brooklyn

By Katie Vasquez

In the concrete jungle of Brooklyn, Deacon Benoît Chavanne likes to enjoy green space when he can find it.

Hiking, jogging and sports are just some of his hobbies.

“I like being outdoors. Yeah, I just enjoy physical activity. I mean, I grew up, I think doing, three, four hours a sport or more every day,” said Deacon Chavanne.

When he returns to the rectory at St Paul’s Church in Cobble Hill, he enjoys cooking, making dishes like sourdough bread or french apple tart, staples that remind him of his childhood in France.

“We like having food around the table, to be able to sit around the table and just spend some time together,” said Deacon Chavanne.

Another connection to France is Father Alex Morard who volunteered with deacon Benoit as part of the organization Con-Solatio.

The Brooklyn based non profit reaches out to people in some of the world’s most troubled areas. He connected with Father Morard while searching for a diocese to serve.

“I think it’s a great, great place to be. And I don’t know, as a French person I’m very attracted by New York City, of course, and America,” said Deacon Chavanne.

Volunteering with Con-Solatio in Chile in 2014 was a defining moment in his vocation. There he befriended a prison inmate named Pedro.

“To join people’s life, to put together people’s lives, and then only by putting them in the same spot, in the same room. I find myself ready to create this bond that last. And yeah, for me, it was really the miracle of the mission to to be able to, to have our life so intertwined,” said Deacon Chavanne.

When he’s ordained, Deacon Benoît wants to continue that ministry of presence.

“I think we need to be able to bring this presence of Christ in, in lives, visiting the people or saying with having banquets with the people. So to be able to to reach out to the people where they are today,” said Deacon Chavanne.

Pope Francis’ Autobiography is Now Available in Braille

In his autobiography, “Hope,” the late Pope Francis reiterated many themes of his papacy, including his hatred of war, concern for the environment, and support of migrants.

Now, that book is becoming accessible to even more readers.

Malachy Fallon, executive director of Xavier Society for the Blind, joins Currents News to discuss the book’s availability in Braille.

To learn more about Xavier Society for the Blind and see their full range of Braille texts, visit xaviersocietyfortheblind.org

Sister Camille D’Arienzo Ends 52-Year Run on 1010 WINS

WHITESTONE — Hers was a voice that listeners of 1010 WINS looked forward to hearing. Now that her tenure at New York’s all-news radio station has come to an end, Sister Camille D’Arienzo is looking back at her years at the station with fondness.

Sister Camille, 92, a member of the Sisters of Mercy who lives in Whitestone, offered her final commentary on 1010 WINS on Sunday, June 1.

For more than five decades, she had been a fixture at the station, offering minute-long commentaries every Sunday on faith, social justice, and other topics.

“I enjoyed every minute of it,” Sister Camille said. “I found that the microphone was my friend.”

When it came time for her final appearance, she delivered her commentary with her usual grace and understatement.

“I’ve had a long, satisfying run on this radio station — 52 years. I’m grateful for the welcome I received, for the friendships I’ve enjoyed, and for the response from our listeners,” she told the audience, “But as with all things in this life, there comes a time to say goodbye. And for me, that time is now.”

Over the years, Sister Camille delivered more than 2,000 commentaries, perfecting the art of making a well-thought-out, concise point in a limited time frame.

“If you only have one minute, then you have to pick something that either everybody already knows something about, has an opinion about, or would be easily understood,” she explained.

It was 1973, and Sister Camille was teaching at Brooklyn College and occasionally writing for The Tablet when she heard from a friend, Father Howard Basler, that 1010 WINS had approached him with the idea of providing weekly commentaries.

“And he said to me, ‘I have neither the interest nor the voice to do that. But I think you do well.’ I was immediately intrigued by the idea,” she recalled.

As it happened, Sister Camille had just completed her doctoral dissertation on the career of Eric Sevareid, the legendary CBS radio and television commentator.

When she went to the 1010 WINS studio to be interviewed, she said there were three men sitting in a semicircle asking a lot of questions.

“I said, ‘Well, I’m ready to do this.’ One of them said, ‘We never thought of a woman for the job,’ ” she recalled.

Her reply was priceless: “I said, ‘Well, I’d like you to think of this woman.’ ”

She got the job and, over the years, has delivered her commentaries on the need for compassion in the public square, the importance of faith, and how every person can contribute to creating a better world.

Despite becoming somewhat of a radio star, she has never forgotten her roots. She remained active in the Sisters of Mercy, even serving a four-year term as president of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas.

While she has stepped down from her role at 1010 WINS, Sister Camille said she won’t be idle as the vows she took as a Sister of Mercy last a lifetime — “There is still so much work to do.”

TONIGHT AT 7: Deacon From France Prepares To Be Ordained a Priest in Brooklyn

By Katie Vasquez

The Diocese of Immigrants has welcomed parishioners and priests from across the world.

French Deacon Benoit Chavanne says he already feels like he’s part of the church in Brooklyn and Queens, even though his ordination day in the Diocese of Brooklyn isn’t for another week and a half.