Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens Holds First Ever Toy Drive

By Jessica Easthope

Boxes of toys came flooding in at Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens’ first ever toy drive on Dec. 10. In years past, Catholic Charities collected toys from other groups and distributed them during the Christmas season. This year they’re taking charge — and all the toys they can get.

“For the children to have them, still believe that there is a Christmas and people still care so more than ever, we need to be there for our community,” said Debbie Hampson, Senior Director of Community Health and Wellness Services at Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens.

Nearly 900,000 New Yorkers are unemployed this Christmas. Those who came Thursday with toys for kids of all ages said giving back is more important than ever before.

“This year we need a little Christmas it has been so hard. So many people have passed away, and so many people are despondent and in despair. We need a little bit of Christmas,” said Antonio Burzi, who came to donate a puzzle.

“This pandemic has made such a difference in the lives of so many people. That’s what it’s all about: to give to people in need,” said Barbara Slattery who donated Frozen themed toys.

A single box of toys was nearly full when Tammy Rivera, a representative from the New York City Council of Carpenters, came with a truckload of donations.

“It’s about helping one another right now. Everyone is essential you ask me and for those who can’t do it for their families this year we’re going to help you do it for your family,” Tammy said.

Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens is hoping to have toys for more than 2,000 kids this year. The first distribution is on December 17 in Rego Park, Queens at Our Lady of the Angelus Church.

Stimulus Checks Will Not Be Part of Congress’s COVID Relief Proposal

Currents News Staff

There’s still a stalemate on a stimulus package, and the clock is ticking.

“People’s eyes are fixed on Congress,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. “They need the House and the Senate to stop chasing our tails and make a law.”

A bipartisan group of lawmakers has proposed a deal that includes giving the unemployed $300 more a week for 16 weeks, $300 billion in aid for small businesses and a continued pause on federal student loan payments through the end of April.

The plan doesn’t include stimulus checks.

“We need a large bold program to stimulate the economy, help people out of the conditions they’re in,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, “but keep the economy going for a long period of time.”

Congress is trying to get a bill passed soon, because aid programs that were approved in March — including jobless assistance measures and eviction protections — expire before the end of the year.

“We’re not going home until we get one,” said West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin. “How can you face the people back home who have lost their unemployment check and lost their food assistance and they’ve lost their shelter, all necessities of life we take for granted.”

Sticking points include state and local aid and liability protection for employers.

“This need not be rocket science,” said McConnell, “but we can’t do a thing unless the Democrats decide they actually want to make a law.”

Currents News full broadcast for Wed, 12/09/20 (Catholic news)

Currents News reports secular and religious news from the Catholic perspective.

Some of the top stories on this newscast:

The Christmas season is officially underway in the Diocese of Brooklyn with the lighting of the Christmas tree at Grand Army Plaza – there’s a special addition to this year’s display.

Pope Francis expresses a private act of veneration to the Immaculate Conception at dawn to avoid crowds.

An original song by students inspired by Carlo Acutis – the first millennial on the path to sainthood.

Baseball legend Darryl Strawberry on how his faith in God helped turn his life around.

Baseball Legend Darryl Strawberry Says Faith Changed His Life in Book, ‘Turn Your Season Around’

Currents News Staff

Former New York baseball legend Darryl Strawberry is known for his achievements on the field – as a player for the New York Mets and the Yankees – but he’s also known for some troubling behavior off the field.

In Strawberry’s new book, “Turn Your Season Around: How God Transforms Your Life,” he talks about how his faith got him through some challenging times.

Darryl Strawberry joined Currents News to discuss fame, fortune and its downfall as well as his new book and evangelization ministry.

How Blessed Carlo Acutis Inspired Holy Trinity Diocesan High School’s New Song, ‘Born an Original’

By Jessica Easthope

From the mouth of a Blessed into the hearts of three singers: Carlo Acutis, the teenager who was beatified in October, inspired the song “Born an Original.”

The lyrics are made up of his own words, brought to life again by Holy Trinity Diocesan High School Campus Minister Theresa Marino and students Luca DiGregoli and Bryce Ridley.

“We realized we really have a lot in common with him, he was there age when he passed and his legacy was in 15 years and he did such an extraordinary amount for the Lord,” Theresa said.

The three composed the song in a week. With faith shining through their talent, the song has taken on a different meaning for each of them.

“It said something along the lines of people are born an original but die as photocopies and I found that interesting because it inspired me to take my life and do something original with it,” said senior Luca.

Blessed Carlo Acutis died of leukemia in 2006 — his first miracle was saving a Brazilian boy who suffered from a rare disease. But it was the work he did on earth that makes him relatable to the high school seniors.

“From simply writing a song about him it gave me an insight on what his life was like and why he had the connection he did with God and it encouraged me to do the same,” said Bryce.

“I feel like if this guy was around I’d be friends with him and to have that connection with a saint is what makes it once in a lifetime for me,” Luca said.

Theresa says she’s seen her students strengthen their relationships with God at a time in life when many stray away.

“To see the faith become real in terms of making God really present in the life of a teenager and how that can affect them going forward, that’s what we’re all here to do if we’re in the business of Catholic school,” Theresa said.

The group plans to record “Born an Original” and make it available online to stream. They’re also hoping to get it to Carlo Acutis’ family, to let them know just how far his legacy has reached.

Say ‘No’ to Sin, ‘Yes’ to Grace, Pope Francis Says on Immaculate Conception Feast

By Currents News Staff and Junno Arocho Esteves

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Mary’s Immaculate Conception offers a glimpse to the promised life for all Christians who open their hearts to God and his grace, Pope Francis said.

Addressing pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square on the feast of the Immaculate Conception Dec. 8, the pontiff said the grace “to be totally free from sin” is a gift from God and the “fullness of holiness” given to Mary from the beginning.

“And what Mary had from the beginning will be ours in the end, after we have passed through the purifying ‘bath’ of God’s grace. What opens the gates of paradise to us is God’s grace, received by us with faithfulness,” he said.

In the early morning, the Holy Father visited the Spanish Steps privately to pay homage to the Immaculate Conception at a Marian statue atop a tall column. Customarily, the pope, accompanied by hundreds of people, would pray before the statue every year.

However, the Vatican announced Nov. 30 that the pontiff would “make an act of private devotion” due to the coronavirus pandemic and avoid the risk of infection that would be caused by a large gathering.

Pope Francis prayed silently before the famed statue, which was erected in 1857 to commemorate Pope Pius IX’s declaration three years earlier of the dogma that Mary was conceived without sin. After he departed, Rome firefighters used a truck and tall ladder to hang a ring of flowers and a rosary from the statue’s outstretched arm.

In a statement released Dec. 8, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said that after leaving the Spanish Steps, the pontiff visited in the Basilica of St. Mary Major, where he prayed before the icon of Mary “Salus Populi Romani” (“health of the Roman people”) and celebrated Mass in the chapel of the Nativity.

After praying the Angelus prayer, the Holy Father said that although the public could not be present for the laying of flowers at the statue of Mary, it “does not impede us from offering our mother the flowers that please her most: prayer, penance and a heart open to grace.”

In his main talk, the Holy Father reflected on the Marian feast day that “celebrates one of the wonders of the story of salvation.”

“Even she was saved by Christ, but in an extraordinary way,” the pontiff said, because God wanted the mother of his son to “not be touched by the misery of sin from the moment of her conception.”

Pope Francis said Christians must remember that to pass “through the narrow door” that leads to paradise, they must first be mindful of their faults and open their hearts to God.

“Do you know who is the first person we are sure entered paradise? Do you know who? A ‘ruffian;’ one of the two who was crucified with Jesus,” he said. “Brothers and sisters, God’s grace is offered to everyone; and many who are the least on this earth will be the first in heaven.”

He warned the faithful not to take advantage of the Lord’s patience by continually postponing “a serious evaluation of one’s own life” and thus, be unable to obtain God’s grace.

“We may be able to deceive people, but not God,” the Holy Father said. “He knows our hearts better than we ourselves do. Let us take advantage of the present moment!”

Pope Francis urged the faithful to “seize the day” by saying “‘no’ to evil and ‘yes’ to God” and “to once and for all stop thinking of ourselves, dragging ourselves into hypocrisy and to face our own reality as we are.”

“And this, for us, is the path for becoming ‘holy and immaculate,'” the pontiff said. “The uncontaminated beauty of our mother is incomparable, but at the same time it attracts us. Let us entrust ourselves to her and say ‘no’ to sin and ‘yes’ to grace once and for all.”

Sculpture Honoring Migrants Unveiled by Bishop DiMarzio During Christmas Tree Lighting

By Emily Drooby and Bill Miller

PROSPECT HEIGHTS — The Diocese of Brooklyn on Tuesday, Dec. 8 swapped this year’s pandemic darkness with 14,000 dazzling Christmas tree lights, and the presentation of a sculpture honoring all refugees from the mosaic of human history.

Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, joined by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, unveiled the sculpture, “Angels Unawares,” and then flipped the switch on the 35-foot tree beneath the iconic Soldiers and Sailors Arch in Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza.

The 3.8-ton sculpture — 20 feet long and 12 feet high — is a reproduction of the original “Angels Unawares” by Canadian artist Timothy Schmalz. That piece was permanently dedicated by Pope Francis to mark the 105th World Day of Refugees and Migrants, September 2019 in the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Square.

Bishop DiMarzio, who has spent his career championing for refugees and immigrants, reflected on how the sculpture complements the history of Brooklyn and Queens. The Catholic diocese serving those boroughs has long been known as the “Diocese of Immigrants.”

“This is truly an impressive mosaic of people,” Bishop DiMarzio said of the 140 characters depicted in the sculpture, including the Holy Family — Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

“To unveil this before us recognizes what this is about,” Bishop DiMarzio said. “It is a symbol of what we want to be, and what we have been in the past, and what the future holds for us if we hold to our values as Americans.

“This has truly been a land where everyone has a stake.”

“I think this time of COVID has brought us closer together, recognizing that we are interdependent on one another,” the bishop said. “We depend on one another for many things, and this has helped us perhaps come closer together at a time when there’s always division. But unity is so much more important.”Bishop DiMarzio added that the COVID-19 pandemic has been brutal and tragic, but people in the diocese responded courageously.

Mayor de Blasio agreed.

“Bishop DiMarzio said it right,” the mayor said. “This is really important to say at the outset: all the people who have been fed, all the people who’ve got face coverings, all the folks who are helped in the middle of this crisis — the diocese of Brooklyn was there for them.

“Bishop DiMarzio and his whole team really provided tremendous comfort for people in need.

“Look, I just want to say to everyone in this season, we have many faiths in New York City, but our faiths consistently tell us to look out for one another.”

De Blasio praised the sculpture, and said he was moved by its backstory.

“It recognizes the goodness in all of us,” he said. “The angels walk among us.”

“Angels Unawares” draws its title from Hebrews 13:2. In that scripture, the Apostle Paul wrote, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

Pope Frances commissioned Schmalz to create a work of art that depicts immigrants and refugees throughout human history.

Nativity Scene

In a Dec. 7 interview with The Tablet and Currents News, the sculptor said this piece is an appropriate Nativity scene. He explained the characters crowded on a refugee boat include an angel, with wings stretched to heaven, and the Holy Family shown fleeing to Egypt to escape the wrath of King Herod.

Msgr. Jamie Gigantiello, who helped bring the sculpture’s duplicate to Brooklyn, noted how the joy of Jesus’ humble birth in a stable is contrasted by the family’s subsequent escape to Egypt.

“You see,” said Msgr. Gigantiello, “people love to see a Nativity scene depicting the birth of Jesus with the sheep and the animals. (But) we forget that when everything is over, the Holy Family flees as well.

“This sculpture reminds all of us that Jesus, Mary and Joseph, (are) refugees, migrants, just like all of us in the boat of life together on a journey.”

Msgr. Gigantiello is diocese vicar for development. His special assistant, John L. Heyer II, said after the ceremony that Schmalz contacted the diocese to request that the sculpture’s duplicate appear in Brooklyn during its national tour.

The request came shortly after the commissioning of a statue honoring St. Mother Cabrini, another champion for immigrants, in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan.

“Mr. Schmalz’s desire for the sculpture to be placed in Brooklyn during its national tour was directly connected to our international recognition as the Diocese of Immigrants,” Heyer said.

The bronze duplicate has already made stops in San Antonio, South Bend, Ind., and Boston College. It will be on display at Grand Army Plaza until Jan. 3. After the tour, it will be permanently installed at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

Msgr. Gigantiello thanked Heyer and others who helped make the Brooklyn appearance happen. Included are Nick Barone and Barone Steel Fabrications and Mario Macaluso Construction who helped install the massive piece of art.

Financial support came from the Catholic Foundation of Brooklyn and Queens and Hildamarie and Alexander Ladouceur, Msgr. Gigantiello said.

He added that topping the list is Bishop DiMarzio, “who has lived a life in service to immigrants and refugees.”

“It is most fitting,” the monsignor said, “that this sculpture will be unveiled by him here tonight, the culmination of over 50 years of hard work and welcoming the stranger among us.”

Pope Francis Plans to Visit Iraq in March

By Carol Glatz and Currents News Staff

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Barring any obstacles caused by the global pandemic, Pope Francis is set to begin international travel again in 2021 by visiting Iraq in March, which would make him the first pope to visit this nation.

“Pope Francis, accepting the invitation of the Republic of Iraq and of the local Catholic Church,” will visit Iraq March 5-8, said Matteo Bruni, head of the Vatican press office.

“He will visit Baghdad, the plain of Ur, linked to the memory of Abraham, the city of Irbil, as well as Mosul and Qaraqosh in the plain of Ninevah,” Bruni wrote Dec. 7.

Details about the trip “will be made known in due course and will take into consideration the evolution of the worldwide health emergency,” he added.

It would be the pontiff’s first international trip since his journey to Thailand and Japan in November 2019.

From Baghdad, Iraqi Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, patriarch of Chaldean Catholics, told Catholic News Service that news of the papal visit was a “huge hope.”

“We are so thirsty for hope,” he said of the Iraqi people.

“People are suffering, dying, because of conflicts and also because of the pandemic. So this visit is a big source of joy for all the population of this region,” Cardinal Sako said.

In a June 2019 meeting with a Vatican coalition of funding agencies, known by its Italian acronym ROACO, the pontiff told them he had hoped to go to Iraq in 2020.

The Holy Father met with Iraqi President Barham Salih at the Vatican Jan. 25, 2020.

According to the Vatican, the private talks between the president and Pope Francis, and a separate meeting with other top Vatican officials, underlined the need for promoting stability, reconstruction, national sovereignty and dialogue in the country as well as guaranteeing security for Christians.

Cardinal Sako told CNS he hopes Pope Francis will address “tolerance, human solidarity, to respect each other, to respect life” and that “wars and conflicts are not the answer.”

“If there are problems, we should go through dialogue. Not with weapons.”

He said he expects the visit to give Christians “a big support” to stay in their homeland and “to persevere, to hope and not to leave.”

“We have a vocation and also we have a mission” in Iraq, he said. “We have many problems, but our fathers (ancestors) had the same problems. Still, they resisted and they continued to witness the values of the Gospel.”

He said the church would work with the Iraqi government and a committee of churches to coordinate the visit. They are preparing a theme related to the evangelical verse, “You are brothers.”

“That means we are all brothers. We belong to the same family. We have to live together,” Cardinal Sako stressed, in reference to Christians and Muslims.

Cardinal Sako noted that in visiting the biblical site of Ur, the pontiff is likely to stress a message that “Abraham is the father of Jews, Christians, and Muslims, and that we should all live together in peace and harmony.”

Regarding the announcement of a visit to Iraq following the Holy Father’s curtailed travels due to the coronavirus pandemic, Cardinal Sako said, “This is very courageous.” But the cardinal expressed his trust that God will protect the pope.

“He doesn’t belong to himself, he belongs to the church. Also, he belongs to God, and God will take care of him,” the cardinal said.

There were at least 1.4 million Christians estimated to have been living in Iraq before the U.S.-led coalition’s invasion in 2003.

With the ensuing chaos and violence of war, then the occupation and violence of Islamic State forces in the Ninevah plain, it is estimated there are less than 400,000 Christians in the country, according to Vatican News Dec. 7.

There are some 1.7 million people displaced within Iraq, and UNICEF estimates more than 4 million people — half of them children — need humanitarian assistance.

Contributing to this story was Doreen Abi Raad in Beirut.

How Newsrooms Choose the Stories They Cover

Currents News Staff

Project Veritas, a conservative activist group, has released secret recordings it made of editorial meetings at CNN – which it says shows the network buried the Hunter Biden Ukraine story during the height of the election season – and showed its political bias.

Mike Rizzo, the Director of the Journalism Program at St. John’s University joins us now to talk about this and about how newsrooms choose the stories they cover.

Currents News full broadcast for Mon, 12/7/20 (Catholic news)

Currents News reports secular and religious news from the Catholic perspective.

Some of the top stories on this newscast:

Pope Francis makes plans for his first international trip since the pandemic overwhelmed the world.

Top U.S. bishops plead with the Trump administration to stop federal executions during the Advent season.

Meet the artist who created the powerful sculpture on display right by the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Christmas tree in Grand Army Plaza.