A Women’s History Month Special Edition of Currents News.
Two religious sisters are making a huge difference as they feed the hungry.
The first female Headmaster of Xavier High School.
Jasmine Salazar talks about her role as Victim Assistance Coordinator and Vice Chancellor for the Diocese of Brooklyn.
A retired NYPD officer looks back at the path her mother blazed for her years ago in the department.
By Emily Drooby
2020 was a year filled with unfathomable loss for Father Joseph Dután. It started in March with a call from his mentor, Father Jorge Ortiz-Garay.
“He calls me and says, ‘Joseph, I don’t feel well,’ and at that moment, I knew something was not right,” Father Dután explained.
As the illness progressed, Father Ortiz-Garay was taken to the hospital.
“Every time we would call him he would say, ‘I’m doing well, but I’m losing more and more oxygen,’” Father Dután said. “Come Wednesday night, he tells me, ‘Joseph, the mask is no longer helping me, I think I’m going to need something stronger.’”
He told Father Dután, that if he should pass, at least he could celebrate Easter with the Lord.
The next morning, he was intubated and sent one last text to Father Dután.
“Pray for me and tell the parishioners to pray for me,” he said. “And don’t worry, I trust you.” Father Ortiz-Garay passed away shortly after.
“At that moment, not knowing what to do, how to react,” Father Dután said, “the first thing I did was run into the church, get down on my knees and pray and ask the Lord, what’s going on?”
Hours later, he lost a childhood friend. A week later, his dad entered the hospital and by May, his father passed away. Father Dután spoke about the moment he heard his dad was gone.
“For me,” he said, “that was like, the world just stopped for a moment.”
In the following months, he lost another mentor, Father Adnel Burgos, along with 90 active parishioners of St. Brigid Church.
It has been a year since those events. Everyday Father Dután deals with the grief, but he has also learned the importance of leaning on his family and his flock.
“God is good and people are great,” he said. “People will always be there for you and you always have to be there for your people. Open up your heart to them as they open up their heart to you – to walk with them, to cry with them, to laugh with them.”
The church community is also starting to heal. They were assigned a new pastor, Father Carlos Velásquez.
The community even started to grow and added more Masses. All this occurred in the middle of a pandemic – in what seemed like an impossible feat in an impossible year.
Even with all that happened, it was still a year that Father Jorge would be proud of.
Catholics walking to bring attention to the value of life and end abortion. Their message to the new administration in Washington.
President Biden holds the first formal news conference of his presidency more than two months after his swearing in.
New York lawmakers are set to legalize marijuana but some members of the clergy are not happy about it.
We speak with the producer of the new faith-based movie Resurrection, which covers Jesus Christ’s crucifixion and rising.
By Jessica Easthope
It was a day to make steps toward change.
Dozens gathered in Foley Square in Lower Manhattan, March 25, for the fifth annual International Gift of Life Walk. The crowd was smaller and people were more distant than in years past, but they’re all connected by a common goal: to end abortion.
“It’s purposely on March 25, on the Feast of the Annunciation, when our Lord became flesh, which is why we’re here for the unborn children and their mothers and the respect of all human life,” said Catherine Donohoe, an organizer of the annual event.
The latest data shows 24 percent of all women in the U.S. will have an abortion before the age of 45. That’s one reason why Catherine Donohoe says the time to act is now.
“We need people coming back to the church and get the message that all life deserves to be protected under the legislation,” Catherine said, “because we know in this country, legislation is the way to go. You have to be involved politically.”
In the first two months of 2021, eight new abortion restrictions and bans were enacted. Yet members of the pro-life movement here in New York City say that taking more steps against abortion will be hard with the Biden administration.
“The Biden Administration is the pro-life movement’s worst nightmare,” said Chris Slattery, the president of Expectant Mother Care. “President Biden is an advocate of total abortion up until the day of birth and claims to be a practicing Catholic. That is an abomination.”
Historically, the pro-life movement’s fight for people of color has been an uphill battle. The abortion rate for Black women has been almost five times that for white women. Barbara, from Harlem, was the walk’s Grand Pro-Life Marshal.
“We have a governor who believes in abortions even at the late stages,” Barbara said, “and in my communities, we have more children aborted than are born in New York. Something has to stop.”
During the event, performance artists caused a graphic disturbance in the crowd, but it didn’t shake the marchers, especially not Grace Colucci.
During the pandemic, her pro-life advocacy has taken on a new meaning. She marched for her father who caught COVID-19 in his nursing home and died.
“Life is precious and should be held precious from conception until their natural death,” Grace said. “These people in the nursing homes didn’t have a natural death. Their deaths were put upon them before their times.”
That day, the pro-life movement gained momentum with each step and it won’t stop until life is given the respect, they say, it deserves.
Currents News Staff
Joe Biden faced the press in his first news conference after more than nine weeks into his presidency.
“I want to give you a progress report to the nation,” President Biden said.
The event happened later for Biden than it did for his 15 recent predecessors. The White House said the president wanted to keep the focus on his COVID recovery agenda in his first weeks.
On that topic, he announced a new vaccination target for the country.
“By my hundredth day in office, we will have administered 200 million shots in people’s arms,” Biden said. “No other country in the world has even come close.”
But in recent days, other urgent issues have demanded a spot on his agenda.
In the wake of mass shootings in Georgia and in Colorado that took the lives of 18 people within a week, Biden was pressed for how he’ll work with a sharply-divided Congress to deliver the gun control reform he has promised.
“It’s a matter of timing,” Biden said.
And similarly, there were talks of a legislative solution as the U.S. grapples with an influx of migrants, many of them unaccompanied children at the southern border with Mexico. The migrants are overwhelming detention centers amid the ongoing pandemic.
“What we’re attempting to do now is rebuild,” Biden said. “Rebuild the system that can accommodate what’s happening today.”
In addition to domestic policy issues, Biden also addressed a number of foreign policy challenges, including North Korea, China and Russia.
Currents News Staff
As we continue to celebrate Women’s History Month here on Currents News, we’d like to tell you about a new book that highlights the women of “The Good Book.”
“The Women of the Bible Speak” takes a closer look into the lives of 16 biblical warriors – women who were central figures in many Bible stories.
Joining Currents News is the author of the book, Shannon Bream, who’s also the anchor of Fox News Channel’s “Fox News at Night.”
If you’d like to get the book “The Women of the Bible Speak” – it’s set to be released on March 30, but you can pre-order your copy now. Head on over to FoxNews.com/books.
The suspect in the Boulder, Colo. Mass shooting makes his first court appearance March 25 as the community mourns. They are still waiting for answers and the motive behind the violence.
“This is going to take time and we’re going to see justice prevail,” said Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser.
The suspect, Ahmad Alissa, is set to make his first court appearance Thursday as questions mount over the motive.
“I just don’t know why he would choose this way to get his point across,” said Damien Cruz, a friend of Boulder shooting suspect.
There are renewed calls for action on gun control resonating from Colorado.
“We have mass shooting after mass shooting and congress has failed to act,” said Weiser.
It’s being heard in Washington with the Biden Administration echoing the call.
“If we really want something that is going to be lasting,” said Vice President Kamala Harris, “we need to pass legislation.”
Many Republicans argue that stricter gun laws are not the solution.
“I don’t think it would address this issue,” said Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell.
The mayor of Boulder says an assault weapons ban may have made a difference in his city.
“I can say it wouldn’t have hurt and probably would have helped,” said Mayor Sam Weaver.
His city is now home to growing memorials for the 10 community members lost to gun violence.
One of the victims of that shooting, Officer Eric Talley, is being remembered by the Catholic community he loved.
The decade-long police veteran was a regular visitor of St. Martin de Porres parish, located just across the street from the grocery store where he was killed.
Though he was not a parishioner there, he often took part in their events.
In a statement, Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver says Officer Talley was “a man of character and strong faith, a loving father to seven children, a husband who cared deeply for his family, and a soldier for Christ.”
The officer’s mother, Judy Talley, also described her son as a “strong Catholic of deep faith.”
She says that over the past year, his job became increasingly difficult with people cursing and even spitting on her son.
“Why?! Why? My son gave his life to save those people,” said Judy, “He gave it all and the hate still continues. Oh God, help them.
Judy said she and her son spoke every day.
By Jessica Easthope
Against the backdrop of the picturesque Colorado mountains, tragedy struck. Ten people, their ages spanning from 20 to 65, were killed while working and shopping at the King Soopers grocery store in Boulder.
If you were to walk into the grocery store, Rikki Olds would be one of the first people you’d see as the front-end manager.
“She was giggly and bubbly,” said her aunt Lori, “you couldn’t be sad around her.”
Rikki was gunned-down alongside two of her co-workers, King Soopers employees’ Teri Leiker and the youngest victim, 20-year-old Denny Stong.
“I kind of stepped outside, saw someone shooting,” said Logan Smith, one of Denny’s friends, “ran back inside, more shooting when I got back inside.”
Boulder Police Officer Eric Talley, 51, was killed. He was one of the first members of law enforcement to get to the store where Tralona Bartkowiak was shopping. Tralona managed a local yoga and accessories store. She was recently engaged.
“She was just always a caring, giving, wonderful person,” said friend Tricia Hunter. “I’m just devastated.”
Kevin Mahoney was described as a dad to everyone. Yet, no one was more devastated by his passing than his own daughter, Erika, who took to Twitter to express her heartache, writing “my dad represents all things love.”
Families and friends are in mourning over a senseless act of violence. Now their loved ones live on in the memories.
By Emily Drooby
People are waiting in lines for one of the country’s most precious commodities: a COVID-19 vaccine. However, vaccine distribution rates haven’t been equal.
“The vaccination rate among the Black community is still lagging,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said during a March 24 press conference, “the vaccination rate among the Hispanic community is still lagging.”
Twenty-eight percent of the Asian community and 26 percent of the Caucasian community have been vaccinated. That’s compared to the 15 percent of the Latino community and 14 percent of the Black community who have received their shots.
Location has also been a place where discrepancies show.
City data shows that in Manhattan, 34 percent of people have received at least one shot. But that number drops down to only 23 percent in the Bronx and Brooklyn.
The difference is stark on the northeastern side of Manhattan. In historically low-income areas, like central and east Harlem, only 12 to 15 percent are fully vaccinated. However, just 30 blocks south in the Upper East Side, those numbers jump from 26 to 31 percent.
One reason is the difficulty when it comes to scheduling an appointment. Dr. Shani Andre is the chief medical officer of The Floating Hospital, a nonprofit that provides free healthcare to those in need.
“Those that may be working from home and have the ability to spend 30 minutes every morning at 7 a.m. trying to get an appointment,” Dr. Andre said, “It’s a lot different than someone who is working in the service industry where they need to be out the door at 6 a.m. and at work at 7 and don’t have time to do that.”
Dr. Andre said adding weekend and off-hour slots at vaccinations sites helps address this issue. She also says education is crucial.
The Floating Hospital has been helping seniors get the shot. They’ve also focused their vaccine and education efforts.
“To target those populations that are either public housing, homeless or either limited English proficiency,” Dr. Andre said, “we make sure that we are offering first to those communities.”
The city is trying to address the discrepancies too, announcing community pop-up vaccination sites.
“This is why we opened in so many NYCHA Centers, churches, houses of prayer, and Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, with the people from the Bronx,” said Dr. Ramon Tallaj, board chairman for SOMOS Community Care. His organization provides medical services to those in underserved communities.
Dr. Ramon was on hand as Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the “Roll Up Your Sleeve” campaign. The campaign, which will launch in April, allows houses of worship to sign up to host pop-up vaccine sites. The idea for the pop-up sites is that people will be more receptive to receiving the vaccine if they feel they’re more comfortable in their own community and churches.
In order for more people to feel comfortable, SOMOS Community Care is also pushing for the state to allow community doctors with the authorization to give out vaccine shots.
Pope Francis names a prominent abuse survivor and whistleblower to a Vatican panel to protect children.
The very latest on the mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado – the shooter is set to make his first court appearance.
Remembering the victims: an in-depth look at those who were killed during the attack – including a police officer described as a Catholic of strong faith.