The Chair is the joyful story of the Catholic Church in America; our rich history, the sublime beauty of our cathedrals, and the inspiring ministry of our modern-day apostles. This episode explores the Diocese of Dodge City, Kansas, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and the ministry of its 6th bishop, John Brungardt.
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The Chair: Marquette, MI
The Chair is the joyful story of the Catholic Church in America; our rich history, the sublime beauty of our cathedrals, and the inspiring ministry of our modern-day apostles. This episode explores the Diocese of Marquette, Michigan, the Seat of the Bishop, Saint Peter Cathedral, and the ministry of its 13th bishop, John Doerfler.
The Chair: El Paso, TX
The Chair is the joyful story of the Catholic Church in America; our rich history, the sublime beauty of our cathedrals, and the inspiring ministry of our modern-day apostles. This episode explores the Diocese of El Paso, Texas, St. Patrick Cathedral of El Paso, and the ministry of its 6th bishop, Mark Seitz.
The Chair: Anchorage-Juneau, AK
The Chair is the joyful story of the Catholic Church in America; our rich history, the sublime beauty of our cathedrals, and the inspiring ministry of our modern-day apostles. This episode explores the Archdiocese of Anchorage-Juneau, Alaska, and the ministry of its 1st archbishop, Andrew E. Bellisario.
The Chair: Dubuque, IA
The Chair is the joyful story of the Catholic Church in America; our rich history, the sublime beauty of our cathedrals, and the inspiring ministry of our modern-day apostles. This episode explores the Archdiocese of Dubuque, Iowa, and the ministry of its 10th archbishop, Michael Jackels.
‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ Affirms the Faith of Black Catholics
In honor of the last day of Black History Month, Currents News looks back on what has become widely known as the “Black National Anthem.”
“Lift Every Voice and Sing” is a hymn created during a crucial time in American history.
More than 100 years later, its notes still offer promise and hope to all who sing it, including the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Sister Thea Bowman Choir.
“Lift Every Voice and Sing,” along with hundreds of other Black hymns, can be found in the popular African American hymnal “Lead Me, Guide Me” in pews across the diocese.
Queens Restaurant Partners with Saint Teresa Church to Feed the Hungry
by Katie Vasquez
Seven days a week, the “Bolivian Llama Party” crafts modern dishes like salteñas and silpancho.
But one of these meals is feeding more than hungry customers; for every chicken chicha bowl bought, the restaurant donates a food item to the pantry at Saint Teresa church.
“It’s our most popular item, so I knew I would get the most donations if I use that bowl,” said Bolivian Llama Party owner David Oropeza.
Owner David Oropeza says the popular dish has provided more than a thousand items to the pantry, with about 2 pounds of food going to each family.
David started giving to the food pantry in December because he wanted to help the neighborhood and knew personally the impact a food pantry could have as a son of immigrants.
“My mom went to a food pantry at a church where they gave her some food, a little chicken, a little vegetables,” said Oropeza.
Since 1999, Saint Teresa’s pantry in Woodside has been providing grocery items to those who need them.
But the food pantry coordinator at Saint Teresa Church, Norberto Saldaña, says the demand has grown with the city’s migrant crisis.
“We are serving a lot of people,” said Saldaña. “Now that we have that big immigration from Venezuela, from Ecuador, it just is a big help.”
Norberto says hundreds are coming to the pantry every week, like Norma Rivadeneira, who was already in line at 9 a.m. even though the pantry opens at 4.
“I don’t have too much food to eat every day with the family,” said Rivadeneira, a food pantry recipient.
The long line of people like Norma only highlights the demand.
“A lot of people kind of look down maybe or feel shame or guilt that they’re at a food pantry. But you can do so much just by giving a hand, you can achieve so much,” said Oropeza.
This proves why the Bolivian Llama Party’s donation is so important.
“We have to say ‘thank you’ to the restaurant, to everybody who helped us, to have dinner and food for all the family,” said Rivadeneira.
So David will keep donating to the pantry for as long and often as possible.
For more information on the restaurant, head to its website: https://www.blp.nyc/
To donate or volunteer at the pantry, call the church: (718) 784-2123
Catholic News Headlines for Thursday 2/29/2024
A restaurant in Queens has made it their mission to help feed those in need.
Pope Francis is back to a regular schedule.
The faithful, who are on the diocese’s Lenten pilgrimage, are in Forest Hills, Queens today.
We’ll take you to St. Bonaventure Church in Jamaica for a deep dive into the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
Pulse of the Parish: St. Saviour Church
The Church of St. Saviour was founded in 1905, but at first, it didn’t look like how it looks now.
As the population in Park Slope grew in the early 19-hundreds and the farmlands made way for brownstones, the little church on the corner had to grow too.
You can see the stonework on the lower part of the church is different from the bricks above because St. Saviour was built in two stages. The upper church was completed in 1918, but there were several challenges, thanks to World War One.
The pastor, Father Frank Spacek, tells us they’re unique in depicting the Stations of the Cross. The lower windows show the Mysteries of the Rosary.
“Even on the day that the Bishop dedicated the church, the upper church, everything wasn’t here yet,” Father Spacek said. “The stained glass windows were still in Munich, Germany. The marble was still in Italy.”
“They always say that the stained glass windows were the Bibles of the poor and for people who 100-150 years ago didn’t know how to read,” Father Spacek said. “They could come to a church and look at those windows and see the story of our salvation in the Stations of the Cross, or they could pray the Mysteries of the Rosary.”
While the windows remain, the parishioners who view them have changed. They were primarily Italian and Irish back then; Father Spacek says the whole world is here now.
All ethnicities and nationalities at the church are living their Catholic faith and putting it into action.
Parishioners like Dave Beaudry, who leads the Brownbaggers, the ministry that gathers once a month to make sandwiches, pack them up with some other goodies, then hop on the subway and deliver them to the homeless.
“The way I’ve always felt about this is putting Jesus’s words into action, and it was an opportunity to go out and help members of our community,” Beaudry said.
Beaudry and his volunteers, including his wife and two sons, walk through the subways and city streets to find people often overlooked by others.
“Just the experience and making the connection with, unfortunately, people who don’t get seen very often,” Beaudry said. “I think it really touched us to just reach out to them and see them and talk to them.”
He says this monthly mission has made him a better person, brought him closer to his church community, and helped grow his faith.
“My faith in God but also, I think the community aspect of it, I felt that from an early age- how God speaks with you through different people,” Beaudry said. “It’s been a part of me- feeling God reaching out to you in different ways and doing different things, and this has been just the latest in a journey of that.”
The Chair: Omaha, NE
The Chair is the joyful story of the Catholic Church in America; our rich history, the sublime beauty of our cathedrals, and the inspiring ministry of our modern-day apostles. This episode explores the Archdiocese of Omaha, Nebraska, Saint Cecilia Catholic Cathedral, and the ministry of its 5th archbishop, George Joseph Lucas.