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Catholic News Headlines for Tuesday 3/3/26   

Hundreds of Catholic school students from the Diocese of Brooklyn gathered in Sheepshead Bay for a Lenten Eucharistic rally.

The NYPD is increasing security at Jewish sites across New York City during Purim following recent U.S. strikes in Iran.

U.S. bishops are inviting Catholics nationwide to support the annual Catholic Relief Services collection to aid vulnerable communities around the world.

Catholic academy students in Queens are learning to sew and create handmade dresses for girls in need worldwide.

Queens Junior Ladies of Charity ‘Dress a Girl Around the World’ With Sewing Project

By Katie Vasquez

The hum of sewing machines and the sound of fabric being cut filled the room as students carefully stitched colorful patterns into dresses.

“These hands are hard at work,” one student said as the garments began to take shape.

Emily Tofan, a fifth grader at Immaculate Conception Catholic Academy, said she enjoys watching her creations come together.

“I like when you sew it and it becomes a dress with the needle,” Tofan said. “I think that’s fun. And I like choosing patterns.”

The Junior Ladies of Charity have been teaching girls at Immaculate Conception Catholic Academy and St. John’s Prep how to sew. The lessons include everything from copying patterns to cutting fabric and learning how to use sewing machines.

“She showed them how to copy the pattern and they did it on their own,” said Pat Mule, co-moderator of the Junior Ladies of Charity. “Then one girl would help another girl. And really they became like a little team.”

Anna Rocchio, co-moderator of the Junior Ladies of Charity, said the students are learning technical skills that are essential to garment-making.

“I have been teaching them to use a machine,” Rocchio said. “I’ve been teaching them how to cut and cut on the fold, what the biases are.”

The dresses are being made for a special cause. They will be delivered to girls in need through the organization Dress a Girl Around the World. The nonprofit says each dress serves as a reminder to a girl that God loves her.

Maya Holmes, a fifth grader, said the project has taught her about generosity.

“If you see somebody, you should always give them something because you don’t know what they’re going through,” Holmes said.

Many of the recipients would not be able to get a new dress on their own.

“They’re just like us — our age or younger — who have the same dreams and aspirations but are unfortunately in circumstances that are not the best,” said Rihanna Bonilla, a senior at St. John’s Prep. “We want to give them some sort of encouragement and give them beautiful dresses.”

Although the young designers will not be able to see the reactions to their work in person, the Queens students hope the girls who receive them know each dress was made with care.

“I hope they love it. I am really excited,” said Ariana Yepez, a senior at St. John’s Prep. “Just the thought of a girl having a dress that they can wear is so awesome. I know how it feels getting a new dress — it would be something super amazing.”

“I think they will be,” added Ava Banks, a third grader at Immaculate Conception Catholic Academy. “I feel really happy that they have new dresses to wear.”

The students’ goal is to make between 10 and 15 dresses and complete them by Easter.

Brooklyn Church Funds Wells, Pediatric Cancer Hospital for African Communities

By Jessica Easthope

Father Cletus Forson does not take a single glass of water for granted.

He remembers what it was like to walk six miles during the dry season in his native Ghana just to find water.

“During the dry season, water is scarce to come by,” he said. “So you go look for water and carry it on your head — maybe five gallons of water you’re carrying, from six miles to bring home.”

Today, Father Forson is helping make sure others do not have to endure the same hardship. He partners with International Help of Missionaries, a nonprofit that drills wells across Africa, including in Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria, Cameroon, Sudan and Ghana.

His friend and collaborator, Don Magnotta, founded the organization 18 years ago.

“Since I started this, this was exactly what God wanted me to be,” Magnotta said. “I understood that this was my mission in my life because you know that God is putting you there. There is nothing that could stop you from doing well because he is there helping you along the way.”

To date, International Help of Missionaries has sent close to $2 million around the world to support wells, schools, clinics and orphanages. The organization is now assisting in the construction of a pediatric cancer hospital in Ghana, which aims to help treat the 100,000 African children diagnosed with cancer each year.

“Over the course of time, there are a lot of children cancer cases that are really showing up — retinoblastoma, leukemia and lymphoma — all of these things are really prevalent,” Father Forson said.

More than 5,000 miles away, Sacred Hearts & St. Stephen Church in Carroll Gardens, where Father Forson serves as parochial vicar, has embraced the cause. The parish’s faith formation program has made fundraising for the hospital its Lenten service project.

“It became a real personal experience,” said a parish leader. “It wasn’t simply something that was a blind charity, so to speak. There were real people on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean who were benefiting by what we were doing here.”

In the past five years, the parish has helped fund three wells in Ghana.

“Africa, the continent, sits at our dinner table and is very much part of this parish,” the parish leader said. “That has also taught us a great deal — and our children a great deal — on how we might appreciate what we have and to share what we have.”

Parishioners say the funds raised go toward life-changing aid for communities thousands of miles away.

“This small little thing, that we may look at as quite insignificant, is really making significant impact in the life of people out there,” Father Forson said.

The money collected by Sacred Hearts & St. Stephen for the pediatric cancer hospital will be sent to Ghana after Easter. Just as with the wells drilled in African villages, supporters say every contribution makes a difference.

Pope Leo Urges Diplomacy as U.S.-Israel Conflict With Iran Escalates

By Christine Persichette

Pope Leo XIV is urging world leaders to halt escalating violence in the Middle East as the United States and Israel continue a coordinated military offensive against Iran.

“Faced with the possibility of a tragedy of immense proportions, I make a heartfelt appeal to all the parties involved to assume the moral responsibility of halting the spiral of violence before it becomes an unbridgeable chasm,” the pope said.

The U.S. and Israel launched what officials described as a massive, coordinated attack aimed at dismantling the Iranian regime and its nuclear program. Several U.S. service members have been killed. President Donald Trump warned that additional American casualties are possible as Operation Epic Fury continues.

“Send our immense love and eternal gratitude to the families of the fallen,” Trump said. “And sadly there will likely be more before it ends, that’s the way it is.”

Military analysts say the trajectory of the conflict may now hinge on Iran’s next moves.

“Where does this go? In many ways it’s not up to the president, nor is it up to Netanyahu,” said retired Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for Middle East policy. “It’s up to the Iranians.”

Since the start of the war, deaths and destruction have been reported in Iran and Israel, as well as in other parts of the Middle East. Iran has launched retaliatory strikes against several neighboring countries, including U.S.-allied Gulf states.

With Iran’s supreme leader, defense minister and other senior officials reported dead, the regime has formed a provisional leadership council and indicated a new supreme leader could be selected soon.

“This is a regime whose existence is at stake, and it’s doing the only thing that it knows to do, which is to lash out violently,” said Karim Sadjadpour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and an Iran expert.

As fighting intensifies, U.S. bishops are joining Pope Leo in calling Catholics to prayer “for peace in the Middle East, for the safety of our troops and the innocent, that leaders may seek dialogue over destruction, and pursue the common good over the tragedy of war.”

The pope again emphasized diplomacy as the only path forward.

“May diplomacy regain its proper role, and may the well-being of peoples, who yearn for peaceful existence founded on justice, be upheld,” he said. “And let us continue to pray for peace.”

Catholic News Headlines for Monday 3/2/26   

Catholic leaders worldwide are calling for prayer and diplomacy after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran escalate tensions.

More than 450 candidates from Brooklyn and Queens are taking a step toward full communion with the Church during the Call to Continuing Conversion

Pilgrims are continuing the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Lenten pilgrimage with Mass, Stations of the Cross, and Eucharistic adoration at St. Anastasia Parish in Queens.

Sacred Hearts & St. Stephen Church in Brooklyn is partnering with an international nonprofit to raise funds for clean water projects and a pediatric cancer hospital in Africa.

Catholic Leaders Urge Action as NY State Owes Schools Over $30 Million

By Currents News

Catholic leaders across New York are calling on the faithful to speak up as more than $30 million in state reimbursements owed to Catholic and other nonpublic schools remains unpaid. The New York State Catholic Conference is urging supporters to contact lawmakers as budget negotiations continue.