Pope Francis Calls for Day of Prayer, Fasting for Peace in Ukraine

By Currents News Staff and Junno Arocho Esteves

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — As the threat of war loomed over the world, Pope Francis called on people to pray and fast for peace in Ukraine on Ash Wednesday.

Before concluding his general audience Feb. 23, the pontiff called on believers and nonbelievers to combat the “diabolical insistence, the diabolical senselessness of violence” with prayer and fasting.

“I invite everyone to make March 2, Ash Wednesday, a day of fasting for peace,” he said. “I encourage believers in a special way to devote themselves intensely to prayer and fasting on that day. May the Queen of Peace protect the world from the folly of war.”

In his appeal, the pontiff said he, like many around the world, felt “anguish and concern” after Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the independence of the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

The pontiff said that due to the “alarming” developments in the region, “once again, the peace of all is threatened by partisan interests.”

“I would like to appeal to those with political responsibilities to do a serious examination of conscience before God, who is the God of peace and not of war, who is the father of all and not only of some, who wants us to be brothers and sisters and not enemies,” he said.

He also urged world leaders to “refrain from any action that would cause even more suffering to the people, destabilizing the coexistence between nations and discrediting international law.”

Putin’s recognition of the two breakaway regions’ independence was seen by Western leaders as a violation of international law protecting Ukraine’s territorial integrity and as a move that could pave the way for a Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine.

In the wake of the Russian president’s actions, the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union announced sanctions against several Russian banks and institutions.

In a statement released Feb. 22, Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halych, head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, said Putin’s recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions has caused “irreparable damage” to the “logic of international relations.”

He also said the Russian president “destroyed foundational principles for a long-term process of restoring peace in Ukraine” and “created the path for a new wave of military aggression against our state.”

“Today, all of humanity has been placed in danger,” he said, because Putin’s action asserts that “the powerful have a right to impose themselves on whomever they wish, with no regard for the rule of law.”

Archbishop Shevchuk reminded world leaders of their duty and responsibility “to actively work to avert war and protect a just peace.”

“I call upon all people of good will to not ignore the suffering of the Ukrainian people brought on by Russian military aggression,” he said. “We are a people who love peace. And precisely for that reason we are ready to defend it and fight for it.”

Catholic News Headlines for Tuesday, 2/22/22

Cardinal Wilton Gregory celebrated a special Mass in the Diocese of Brooklyn on Sunday.

All across Ukraine, Catholics are turning to their faith and are praying for peace.

Coming up this Thursday, Pope Francis will open up dialogue with Catholic university students in North, South and Central America.

Cardinal Wilton Gregory Celebrates Black History Month Mass of Thanksgiving in Diocese of Brooklyn

By Jessica Easthope and Paula Katinas

America’s first black Cardinal came last weekend to the Diocese of Brooklyn — which boasts the largest African American Catholic population in the country — to deliver a Black History Month message of hope and empowerment.

Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the main celebrant of a Black History Month Mass at Immaculate Conception Monastery in Jamaica, Queens on Feb. 20, urged black Catholics to take pride in the gifts and talents they have given to the nation.

“We are a gift to this country!” he said.

Cardinal Gregory is the leader of the Archdiocese of Washington D.C. and was elevated to his rank by Pope Francis in 2020.

Cardinal Gregory, who has often spoken out about the evils of racism, did not shy away from the topic at this Mass.

“In this month of February, our nation is involved to celebrate the accomplishments and gifts of American people of color — an invitation that is long overdue and not always properly understood,” he said. “There have been many times and occasions when God’s example of compassion and mercy have not been kept by some of God’s people.”

Earlier this month, at an online forum sponsored by the St. Thomas More Catholic Community at Yale University, Cardinal Gregory said racism “has denied or limited many African Americans from living out their calling to become full members of the Catholic Church as priests or religious and certainly, to fully attend or teach in higher education.”

Jelami Morris, who attends Mass at St. Bonaventure-St. Benedict the Moor Parish in Jamaica, said he came to Sunday’s Mass hoping Cardinal Gregory would deliver “a message of hope and healing” and address the topic of racism.

“I feel the only way for these things to be addressed is to have the conversation. We can’t continue to act like it doesn’t exist. But we absolutely have to address it if we’re gonna be able to progress in any type of way,” Morris added.

The Mass, a joint celebration of the Diocese of Brooklyn and the Diocese of Rockville Centre, was organized by Vicariate for Black Catholic Concerns for the Diocese of Brooklyn and the Office of Multicultural Diversity of the Diocese of Rockville Centre.

Bishop Robert Brennan of Brooklyn and Bishop John Barres of Rockville Centre concelebrated the Mass. Dozens of bishops and priests from both dioceses were among the hundreds of people who packed the church.

The atmosphere inside the church was one of excitement and anticipation, with everyone wanting to get a closer look at the historic figure of America’s first black Cardinal.

His visit was perhaps fitting, considering the Diocese of Brooklyn’s strong African American presence. According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the diocese heads the list of the dioceses in the country with significant numbers of black Catholics. A 2014 report on cultural diversity in the Catholic Church issued by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate put the number at 214,890.

Cardinal Gregory has many milestones in his career. He was the first black president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, a post he held from 2001 to 2004. In addition to his role as head of the Archdiocese of Washington D.C., he is also chancellor of The Catholic University of America and serves as chairman of the Board of Trustees for The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

Joyce Barber liked what she heard from Cardinal Gregory at the Mass.

“I thought his homily was very inspirational and it really touched on everything in society we’re going through,” Barber said. “This was a Mass of great unity and it shows the work we have to do.”

Why a 79-Year-Old Rhode Island Priest Went on a Bike Pilgrimage Praying For Peace in Ukraine

Currents News Staff and Rick Snizek

WARREN, R.I. (CNS) — As Ukraine faces a fierce challenge to its young democracy from more than 120,000 Russian forces stacked on its borders, poised to invade at any time, a Rhode Island priest is showing solidarity with the plight of the people of the overwhelmingly Orthodox Christian nation.

“Russia is surrounding the Ukraine with troops. What else can I do but pray?” said Father Thomas O’Neill, 79, a senior priest of the Diocese of Providence.

Father O’Neill embarked on a pilgrimage of prayer on a morning where the mercury hovered at 15 degrees as he rode his bicycle from his home in Middletown to St. Patrick Church in Providence in late January.

He stopped at churches along the way to offer prayers for peace in the region.

A well-read student of history, who spent 20 years of his ministry serving outside the United States, Father O’Neill fears what will happen to the Ukrainian people if Russian President Vladimir Putin directs the vast array of forces he has amassed on three sides of Europe’s second largest nation by area to invade Ukraine.

During a stop at St. Mary of the Bay Church in Warren, Father O’Neill recounted how, during the era of Soviet leader Josef Stalin, millions of Ukrainians starved to death.

The brutal dictator caused a famine by ordering Ukraine’s small farms to operate as a collective, usurping their harvests to feed those living in Russia. Stalin’s goal was also to punish Ukrainians whose dreams for independence would threaten his total authority.

“During the Stalin era, they were starved to death because they took all the food out of the Ukraine that was grown on the collective farms and the peasants all starved, millions and millions of them. Why would Ukraine want to have anything to do with Russia now?” the priest asked.

“They’ve got a lot of reasons not to want to be hinged to Russia,” he added in an interview with the Rhode Island Catholic, Providence’s diocesan newspaper.

Ukraine gained its independence in 1991 following the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the ensuing dissolution of the former Soviet Union. It has been operating as a democracy since then.

In recent weeks, Putin has been deploying tens of thousands of well-armed troops to Ukraine’s borders, threatening the East European nation of 41 million as he publicly lamented its desire to join the West’s NATO security alliance.

“Putin cut his teeth on the KBG. All he knows how to do is smile, be friendly, lie, murder and torture,” Father O’Neill said of the Russian leader who has his sights set on continuing to regain lost ground in Ukraine.

In February 2014, during the Winter Olympics, which were held in Sochi, in southern Russia, Putin invaded Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula after the nation’s Parliament ousted its pro-Russian leader, Viktor Yanukovych. They have held that piece of Ukraine ever since.

Father O’Neill said he has been astounded to see some American television hosts actually make the case that the U.S. should be supporting Russia over Ukraine on this issue given that Russia has more to offer this country, given its resources, than Ukraine does.

He expresses his solidarity with the Ukrainian people, noting it is not just geopolitics at work but Catholic social teaching as well.

“It’s an issue of democracy, it’s an issue of citizenship,” he said.

“If you read ‘The Church in the Modern World,’ or any of the documents the Catholic Church has produced on social justice you’ll see that what Putin is doing is not just the opposite — it’s the extreme opposite,” the priest said.

The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (“Gaudium et Spes”), issued in 1965, is one of the four constitutions resulting from the Second Vatican Council.

As the morning sunlight streamed through the stained glass windows of St. Mary of the Bay Church, Father O’Neill offered prayers for the people of Ukraine before heading back out into the biting cold to climb aboard the old Raleigh mountain bike that would take him the remaining 14 miles or so to St. Patrick Church in Providence.

The bicycle was given to him by a former parishioner when he served as pastor of St. Mary Church in West Warwick, until he retired nine years ago.

Father O’Neill didn’t have a tire repair kit or any other tools with him should the bike break down, so he was embarking on this pilgrimage with the faith that God would help him see it through.

“A pilgrimage is supposed to help the person making the pilgrimage — it’s supposed to transform me,” he said as he rode off.

“But on the other hand, I think the situation is such that I would be appreciative if people took a little more interest in it,” he added. “If the Russians invade it’s just going to be horrible and ugly. But I know the Ukrainians will put up a tough fight.”

Snizek is executive editor of Rhode Island Catholic, the newspaper of the Diocese of Providence.

Praying For Peace: Ukrainian Catholics Turn to Church For Solace

Currents News Staff

The “Old Crimea” cemetery stretches across the rolling hills outside Mariupol, in eastern Ukraine. In section 21, Ukrainian flags whipping in the wind mark the graves of Ukrainian troops.

Those buried are mostly young men who have died fighting Russia-backed forces in the past eight years, an often-ignored conflict that has killed as many as 14,000 people, including more than 3,000 civilians.

Ruslan Pustovoit was a soldier. Now he fights with a right-wing nationalist group called Right Sector.

“Putin is a pathetic, small man,” said Ruslan. “Everyone is ready to tear Russians with their own hands.”

He says he knows around 200 people who have been killed. He shows us the grave of one of them, a fallen friend now etched in stone, as well as his memory.

“Too many comrades have died,” said Ruslan, “too many civilians, too many children.”

In the bitterly cold, driving rain, Roman Peretyatko – a priest – prays at the towering grave of his friend, one of the first from here to die in the fighting. But Father Peretyatko, quiet and understated, has two sides, dividing his duties as an Army chaplain – in his olive green frock – which he says is his calling, and tending to a civilian congregation in this small Mariupol chapel.

“We are losing our best people,” said Father Peretyatko. “The Church gives people comfort. If they ask what’s going to happen next, we say it’s God’s will. We prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”

People who can’t go to church ask Father Peretyatko to pray for them. He says their names at the altar. Among the handful who came one morning is a man who had one thing on his mind.

“We pray for peace, above all,” said one parishioner. “Thank God it’s peaceful right now. We are taking it one day at a time. We’ll see what happens next.”

The people of Ukraine have shown extraordinary calm in the face of this Russian threat. But it is clearly taking a toll.

“They tell us to remain calm,” the parishioner said. “We would love to live peacefully, to go to work, to raise children and grandchildren. We’re worried. How could we not be?”

Some military observers believe Putin will use Russian troops to connect Russia with Crimea, which he seized in a 2014 invasion.

Saint Athanasius Catholic Academy Offers Prayers for New York’s Finest

Currents News Staff

Saint Athanasius Catholic Academy honored the NYPD.

It was an opportunity for the students to get up close and personal with the men and women in blue.

They even made signs and posters with prayers for the officers.

And to top it off, the celebrations ended with a balloon release honoring all of the officers who have fallen in the line of duty.

Students Around the Diocese of Brooklyn Mark School Year Milestone in Fun and Creative Ways

Currents News Staff

Children in the Diocese of Brooklyn marked their 100th day in class by dressing up as grandparents.

In Dyker Heights, the students at Saint Ephrem Catholic Academy were encouraged to dress up as if they were 100 years old, complete with wigs and all!

Some even went out of their way to dye their hair grey.

The fun didn’t stop there.

For their 101st day of school, the students at Midwood Catholic Academy celebrated Dalmatian style.

Just check out some of these adorable pups and their creative costumes.

And while it looks like all fun and games, the 101st day also marks a major milestone and teachers used the opportunity to celebrate their students’ academic achievements.

Saint Rose of Lima Catholic Academy Raises Funds for Leukemia Awareness

Currents News Staff

The students of Saint Rose of Lima Catholic Academy in Far Rockaway are raising awareness for leukemia.

Dressing in all orange, the color of leukemia awareness, the students raised over two-thousand dollars for the Leukemia Society.

It’s an organization they decided to support because they were inspired by a former student, Rocco Pisani, who bravely fought and survived leukemia throughout the pandemic.

Jewish Delegation from United Kingdom Thanks Pope Francis for Denouncing Antisemitism

Currents News Staff

Marie van der Zyl is president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, representing the entire British Jewish community.

She is the second woman to hold the position and was elected by more than 300 representatives of 180 synagogues and 40 other Jewish organizations throughout the country

Van der Zyl traveled to Rome with the institution’s chief executive, Michael Wegier, to greet the Pope.

“We were very, very privileged for His Holiness to offer to see us and we gave him a beautiful antique book of one of our oldest synagogues. And we wanted to thank him of the warmth of the relationship between the Jewish and Christian communities,” said Van der Zyl.

“And it´s so wonderful that after so many centuries of difficult times, we now are in a situation where we have a pope who is so warm towards the Jewish people and Israel and our community. And we wanted to express how supported and our gratitude for that,” said Wegier.

Together they were able to exchange some warm words with Pope Francis.

They say they are concerned about the recent rise in antisemitism in the United Kingdom. After the latest instances of tension between Israel and Palestine in 2021, incidents of anti-Jewish hate in the country skyrocketed by 500%, according to the non-profit Community Security Trust.

That’s why they thanked the Pope for the messages like this one, which he shared on one of his most recent trips:

“I repeat: let us unite in condemning all violence and every form of antisemitism, and in working to ensure that God’s image, present in the humanity He created, will never be profaned.”

Wegier said, “We discussed the importance of Jewish-Christian relations, he said that he will pray for us and that we should pray for him”.

Rome is a city especially sensitive to antisemitism. In October 1943, the Nazis brutally took Jews from their homes to send them to concentration camps. Many were able to save themselves by hiding in the houses of friends or in churches, but others weren’t as fortunate, and were taken away.

To remember them, gold pavement stones are placed in front of the houses where they lived, to honor the lives of those Jews who never came home.

Pope’s Sunday Angelus Included Ukrainian Pilgrims, Round of Applause for Healthcare Workers

Currents News Staff

The flags at Pope Francis’ Sunday Angelus are becoming increasingly diverse as pilgrims return to Rome. This week they included several from Ukraine.

On Italy’s National Day for Healthcare Professionals, the Pope shared an instance of the small yet heroic gestures healthcare workers perform to show their closeness to their patients.

“A doctor told me this morning that in the time of COVID, a person was dying and said to him, ‘Hold my hand. I am dying, and I need your hand.’ The heroic healthcare professionals showed this heroism in the time of COVID, but the heroism remains there every day. A round of applause and a big “thank you” to our doctors, nurses, and volunteers,” said the Holy Father.

The Pope also prayed for those affected by the deadly mudslides and flooding near Rio de Janiero, Brazil, and for Madagascar where a cyclone is expected to touch down in the coming days.

“May the Lord receive the victims in his peace, console their relatives and support those who come to their aid,” said Pope Francis.

The Pope then greeted pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square from around the world, including a large group from cities across Spain.