Catholic News Headlines for Monday, April 26 2021

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.

St. Matthew’s Church Impacted by NYC Exodus as Crown Heights Among Areas with Highest Move-Outs

By Jessica Easthope

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.

Currents News Special: Going to Pot

Currents News Staff

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.

Church Ave. in Brooklyn Co-Named After Venerable Pierre Toussaint, Devout Catholic and Philanthropist

By Emily Drooby

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.

Catholic News Headlines for Friday, 4/23/21

A C.D.C panel votes on the fate of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. Meanwhile, New York City is allowing all residents to walk-in for shots.

As a surge of migrants overwhelms U.S. shelters, Mexican facilities are feeling the same pressure.

Clergy in the Diocese of Brooklyn react to the guilty verdict of Derek Chauvin for the death of George Floyd.

A Lesson in Service, Brooklyn Jesuit Prep Students Pick Up Trash in East Flatbush

By Emily Drooby

EAST FLATBUSH — The 85 students at Brooklyn Jesuit Prep (BJP) — spanning across grades five through eight — took their religion lessons outside the classroom on Earth Day. They spent the last hour of their school day becoming stewards of the earth, cleaning up loose litter in their school’s vicinity.

After BJP relocated from Crown Heights to East Flatbush at the beginning of this school year, its students wanted to beautify the earth and show their new neighbors who they are as a Catholic school.

Gregory Arte, who has been principal of BJP for four years, said the school’s student government approached him in February expressing a desire to celebrate Earth Week and do a local community service project on Earth Day.

“It was great to see them applying what they’re learning in religion class with the Pope’s Encyclical and the Catholic social teaching — caring for God’s creation — and applying that to things that they can do with the whole student body through service as well,” Arte said.

Eighth-grader Chad Herry explained how he and his classmates walked around the neighborhood, picking up garbage that had been left out on the streets or had blown out of trash cans on windy days.

“Most of our knowledge about saving the Earth comes from what we’re learning in religion class — about how we’re supposed to care for God’s creation,” Herry said. “It’s important for us to try to keep the Earth healthy because we want to try to preserve our lives and the lives that come after us.”

Eighth-grader Tahir Osman said Earth Day, for him, is about spreading awareness on a daily basis and making a real change for the future.

“It’s about finding ways to reduce, reuse and recycle; not buying disposable products and just throwing them away,” Osman said, “and buying reusable items instead to preserve plastic.”

BJP’s four grades split up, walking up and down 15 residential blocks and along Glenwood Road to clean up trash from the sidewalk, along the curbs, and by tree trunks.

Within a half-hour, the students collected more than 20 bags of garbage, which included disposable masks, plastic bottles, and candy wrappers.

Though the Earth Day clean-up project was a new community service initiative in their new area, BJP faculty and students said they look forward to making this a permanent tradition for years to come.

“The community is filled with trash, and we don’t want to see that,” added eighth-grader Justeena Nash, a student government member. “We want to see the beauty.”

Catholic News Headlines for Thursday, 4/22/21

Battling climate change – President Biden looks to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half, as Pope Francis calls on us to protect the planet.

Students are taking environmental battles into their own hands, proving that the littlest among us can make the biggest changes.

Catholic organizations look to help migrants as they enter the country, as a bill is proposed in the Senate to handle the influx at the southern border.

Fight to vaccinate – the effort to get shots to underserved communities in the city by bringing it right to them.

New York Catholic Charities Brings Vaccines to Affordable Housing Development to Fill a Crucial Need

By Emily Drooby

It’s a big moment for Vanessa Santiago: she’s being vaccinated.

“I was here last month and now I’m back for my second dose,” Vanessa explained to Currents News.

It’s a Godsend. The non-profit school employee had a hard time finding a slot in her neighborhood.

“Everyone’s trying to get their vaccine so doing a waitlist or even going online to the DOH or the CDC website, every time I kept going in, there were no appointments available,” Vanessa said.

Her shot is coming from a Catholic Charities of New York vaccine distribution event that’s held at the community center of an affordable housing development in the Bronx.

That event will provide health access to people like long-time resident Salvador Carrasco.

“Yes, very helpful this way, I don’t have to go out, just bring it to my door,” Salvador said.

About half of adults in New York City have yet to receive their first COVID shot. Right now, there’s a lot of available appointments but people are facing other kinds of roadblocks.

“The reality is you want to go where people are at, there are still barriers to people getting appointments also getting to the locations,” explained Richard Espinal. He’s the Director of Housing Support Services and Parish & Community Engagement at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York.

He added that for example, getting to Yankee Stadium, a large vaccination site in the Bronx can be almost impossible from certain areas.

There are also tech barriers to consider.

“There’s a city platform, there’s a state platform,” Richard said. “Getting to those different sites and navigating all that can be very confusing for a lot of folks, particularly if language is an issue, if using the technology is an issue, things like captcha and all of those safeguards. For some folks, those are just barriers that we want to eliminate.”

Events like this by Catholic Charities will help to eliminate those barriers. More than 150 people got their second vaccination at the event. Catholic Charities of NY plans to continue to hold similar events in the future as long as there is a need.

Bay Ridge Catholic Academy Students Celebrate Earth Day with STEM Projects

By Jessica Easthope

Earth. It’s the third planet from the sun, but at Bay Ridge Catholic Academy, it’s number one.

“It’s about taking care of the planet and when you think about it taking care of the planet also means taking care of you,” said fourth-grader Milena Gafourov.

On Thursday, April 22, students made promises they’d stay committed to the environment longer than the 24 hours of Earth Day. There was a different STEM project happening in every classroom. Some kids were testing the pH balance of the water we drink. Others were getting their hands dirty trying out the effectiveness of natural cleansers instead of harsh chemicals, even the solution used to sanitize the school during the pandemic is all natural.

Older students like Jared Javier weren’t recycling topics. They came up with new research projects his bright idea was light pollution.

“Birds migrating when they go to hotter places, they’ll see the light and they can crash into buildings, and it can kill off the species,” said Jared.

The younger students got just as passionate and sometimes emotional about the damage done to the planet and God’s living creatures. Julian Figueras researched the overfishing of sharks and what happens when they’re killed for their fins.

“It’s not just what they do it’s after it, the fishers just throw the bodies back into the ocean,” said Julian.

Earth Day at Bay Ridge Catholic is a big deal. Principal Kevin Flanagan says keeping the planet healthy starts in the classroom.

“We don’t treat that as a symbolic event at Bay Ridge Catholic we want to inspire students to take an active role in changing the world,” said Kevin.

To get his point across, Mr. Flanagan suited up and became Mr. Frog-agan. He’s putting the environment into a context kids can understand, but he doesn’t shield them from the real issues.

“Seven years ago they discovered a new species of frog in Brooklyn and I wonder how long that would be possible,” Kevin said. “We want students to understand problems like that. That the less they litter or more they pick-up what other people litter, will directly impact the environment around them.”

These kids are making the Earth their own and want to be proud of how they leave their mark.

Migrant Crisis: Exclusive Coverage on the Southern Border

Currents News Staff

Arizona’s governor is sending 200 National Guard troops to the southern border. Governor Doug Ducey is declaring a state of emergency due to a surge of undocumented immigrants in federal custody.

Ducey says his state needs the protection and the Biden administration is not taking appropriate action. The troops will monitor surveillance systems and provide medical assistance for those at detention centers.

The Supreme Court seems unlikely to grant green cards to undocumented immigrants who were granted a temporary stay for humanitarian reasons.

They are looking into whether 400,000 foreign nationals from countries enduring national disasters or armed conflicts meet requirements for the cards.

Conservatives in the court voiced skepticism over migrants meeting requirements if they initially entered the country illegally.

Currents News has a reporter on the ground at the southern border. John Lavenburg, national correspondent for The Tablet and Crux, is in McAllen, Texas and joined Currents News to discuss the situation.