Currents News Staff
Is Pope Francis a Mets fan? Social media has been buzzing about after Mets’ first baseman Pete Alonso’s new bride posted a picture of them meeting Pope Francis at the Vatican.
The happy couple was on their honeymoon in Italy when they posted this photo. It triggered an onslaught of comments from fans. Many questioned His Holiness’ MLB allegiance.
But some are hopeful that since pete touched the pope, they’ll have a blessed season!
By Jessica Easthope
All the letters read the same, but for Coretta James, every police officer’s individual dedication deserves a thank you.
“I saw the tough job that they have and I just wanted to encourage them and let them know they have support out there,” Coretta said, “that not everyone is against them and they’re not the enemy.”
Since 2017, Coretta has been on a mission to hand write a thank you card to every single officer in the NYPD. So far, she’s delivered 4,000 letters and with every stroke of her pen: the officer; detective; sergeant; lieutenant; captain; or chief that gets a letter knows there’s someone out there rooting for them.
“They put on that uniform to serve us and as a civilian I don’t take that for granted,” Coretta said.
Coretta, who came to the U.S. from Antigua at 16, never seals the envelopes. She adds in the name of every officer when she gets to a precinct and she says the personal touch makes all the difference.
“A smile, a hug from an officer,” she said, “or they say ‘I’m going to take a picture of this and send it to my wife’ or ‘I’m going to put this in my locker so I can always look at it.’ It’s rewarding.”
There wasn’t one event that sparked her passion, but Coretta says with recent racial tension across the country, police officers have become the target. More than 5,300 NYPD officers retired or resigned in 2020. That’s up 75 percent from 2019. Though Coretta acknowledges there are cops that don’t always do the right thing, she’s not letting that stop her.
“I can’t let that deter me because that’s a few,” she said, “few officers, because no one can be all bad.”
Another way in which Coretta says the good far outweighs the bad? The responses she’s gotten from the public, especially as a person of color. She’s had people send her threats, even wishing her carpal tunnel.
“These comments show me that I’m on the right side and I’m not changing sides,” Coretta said.
She has a long way to go before all 36,000 NYPD officers get a thank you. She says her faith has allowed her to not just feel compassion toward these members of service but to act on it.
Each letter ends with words she believes with all her heart.
More than a quarter of American families are struggling to put food on the table — Because of the pandemic, supply chain issues and inflation, the food pantries they rely on are also struggling.
A blow to faith-based social service agencies that provide adoption and foster care.
Police are stepping up patrols around high-end retailers saying ’tis the season for smash and grab burglaries.
By Jessica Easthope
The mission is simple – feed the hungry, but the approach has become increasingly complex.
Supply chain issues are causing food prices to soar and not just for the people waiting in line at St. John’s Bread & Life. With a week left before their big Thanksgiving meal, Wednesday, the vendor they receive all their turkeys from said they can’t fulfill the order.
“It was a last-minute scramble and it was expensive, but we really believe no one should go without,” said executive director, Sister Caroline Tweedy, R.S.M.
They made due, because during the pandemic, Sister Caroline transformed the entire operation. She says keeping up with this level of food insecurity and doing more with less is the new normal.
“We can’t even remember the past at this point,” she said. “We flipped the script so quickly to meet the need in the community that that seems like hundreds of years ago.”
One grab-and-go bag of food used to cost a little over a dollar, now they cost $1.60, while meat and dairy costs went up 10 percent. Bread & Life fed 6,000 people this week alone and Sister Caroline says she’s not willing to compromise on food quality.
“Keeping people fed with good nutritional food, you’re less likely to have people going to the emergency room, people getting sick. It’s all intertwined,” sister said.
The staff and volunteers who make this machine run aren’t giving up. Many of the people bagging the food have been on the opposite side of the hand-out window.
“They know what the struggle is for folks, so they won’t allow anyone to go hungry, not on their turf anyway,” Sister Caroline said.
At the same time, Bread & Life struggles too – but they willingly take that risk because there’s no other option, the hungry need to be fed.
Currents News Staff
The season of giving is here: NET-TV’s parent company, DeSales Media Group, donated Thanksgiving dinners Monday, Nov. 22, just in time for Thursday’s holiday.
One hundred turkeys were distributed by NYPD community affairs to three parishes around the Diocese of Brooklyn including Holy Child Jesus Church in Richmond Hill, Queens; St. Martin de Porres Parish in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn; and Transfiguration Parish in South Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
All three parishes have food pantries that regularly give to struggling families.
Currents News Staff
Reindeer aren’t usually born as twins and survive, but a rare pair in Alaska has beaten the odds just in time for the holidays.
Meet Spike and Spicy. They were born at Williams Reindeer Farm right outside of Anchorage and quickly became a popular addition to the farm’s Santa experience tour.
But according to the farmers, their arrival came as a surprise to everyone.
“Spicy and Spike’s mom. Her name is Sugar Mama, and she was in labor,” said Lauren Waite from the reindeer farm. “And as soon as the first one come out, I saw that there were two more feet hanging out of her bottom. And I panicked because I was like, ‘Oh no, this means twins.'”
Williams Reindeer Farm has been raising reindeer for over 30 years, and they say twins don’t often live past 24 hours.
However, Spike and Spicy are now six months old.
It’s all about girl power! The Sisters of St. Joseph gave $2 million dollars towards scholarships for girls who attend Fontbonne, The Mary Louis Academy, Sacred Heart Academy on Long Island and a school in Puerto Rico.
Pope Francis is praying for the victims and survivors in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
Thanksgiving is in just two days. NET-TV’s parent company DeSales Media Group is getting into the spirit.
Currents News Staff
The principal of Immaculate Conception Catholic Academy in Jamaica Estates experienced what it’s like to be homeless for one night. Dori Breen slept outside in a cardboard box to raise money for Covenant House – an organization that cares for homeless youth.
Her pre-k students helped paint the box, which leaked, forcing Dori to sleep in a puddle. She says she only got a few hours sleep, but she has no regrets:
“It really brought to light to me what people go through, especially children,” Dori said. “And of course, being an educator, children are the best we have. To have them experience what I did last night, I would have rather it been that way – wet and cold – as opposed to sunny and warm because it wouldn’t have resonated with me.”
The students raised around $500 dollars on Veterans Day for Covenant House. Dori plans to participate in a sleep-out every year. Next year, she hopes a group of her teachers can join her.
By Jessica Easthope
With every ring of the class bell, the girls at Fontbonne Hall Academy are one step closer to their futures. That means something different to all of them, but sophomore Anaya Qayyum knows her dreams of becoming an oncologist wouldn’t be possible without her scholarship.
“When I found out, my parents were so excited to be able to further my education at such an amazing school and I’m so happy other girls will get to experience that as well,” Anaya said.
Right now, one-third of Fontbonne’s 350 students are on scholarship or financial aid, but principal Mary Ann Spicijaric says maybe next year it will be half the school, thanks to a $500,000 donation by the Sisters of St. Joseph.
“It’s simply transformative that we can provide them with cutting edge 21st-century learning spaces and help support the girls who really want to be here,” Mary Ann said.
Half of that money will go toward scholarships and financial aid. The rest of the donation will be for capital improvements and operations needs.
A study of two California schools showed it took nearly a decade for the girls’ school to raise what the boys’ school did in one year. And the trend isn’t just confined to the United States – it’s global. According to a UK study of more than one million database records, donations to boys’ schools were four times that of girls’ schools.
The biggest donations Fontbonne has seen haven’t even come close the half-a-million dollar gift.
“We believe that girls need to have a place to come and learn how to be change makers because we graduate women who are looking to change the world,” said Mary Ann.
The money came from the sale of St. Joseph’s High School in Downtown Brooklyn. Sister Angela Gannon says the $2 million to be divided among four schools is life-changing for students – but supporting future women leaders is priceless.
“Our hope would be any student who wanted to come to Fontbonne, to Mary Louis, to Sacred Heart, to Maria Reina will be able to come,” said Sister Angela.
Fontbonne plans to use part of the money to build a state-of-the-art science lab. For Anaya and her classmates, the opportunity gives them a closer look at their potential and the power of Catholic education.
“We learn how to be aware of more than just ourselves and I think that’s so important,” she said.
The rest of the money from the sale of St. Joseph’s will be put in a trust. Each of the schools are welcome to submit proposals to get more money in the future.
Fontbonne is starting a matching gift donation for alumnae and friends starting on Giving Tuesday, November 30. To donate visit fontbonne.org/givingbeyond
Currents News Staff and Paula Katinas
BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — Marcel J. Desroches says his admiration for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King includes a point of pride about something he has in common with the civil rights icon.
“He was a fraternity brother,” Desroches said. “I feel a strong connection to him because of that. It gives us a sense of pride to know great people came before us.”
Desroches and Dr. King (1929-1968) belonged to Alpha Phi Alpha, one of the Divine Nine — a group of black Greek-letter fraternities and sororities founded on college campuses in the early 20th Century to provide opportunities for blacks who were shut out of white organizations.
Desroches was one of several members of the Divine Nine who came to Our Lady of Victory Church on Sunday, Nov. 21, for a Mass marking Black Catholic History Month.
Celebrated every November, Black Catholic History Month was established in 1990 by the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus to highlight the contributions of the black faithful to the Church in America.
St. Martin De Porres Parish, which includes Our Lady of Victory, was the host of this year’s celebration.
The Mass featured a salute transcending generations. During the entrance procession, Divine Nine members carried banners bearing the names and founding dates of each of the sororities and fraternities.
The Mass and special assembly were coordinated by the Divine Nine Leadership Committee — a group of alumni — and by the Office of Black Ministry of the Archdiocese of New York.
The theme was “Back Together Again: A Homecoming.”
“We have a lot of people in the Divine Nine who worship either at Holy Rosary, Our Lady of Victory, or St. Peter Claver,” said Deacon Rachid Murad, who ministers at St. Martin De Porres with its trio of churches. “So we have this rich history right here in our parish.” He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha and the Divine Nine Leadership Committee.
Father Alonzo Cox, pastor of the parish and director of the Vicariate for Black Catholic Concerns in the Diocese of Brooklyn, recalled his days as an undergraduate at St. John’s University and remarked that people of faith can force change.
He remembered when demonstrations had erupted after it was learned that a chapel to be built on campus would not have the Blessed Sacrament reserved inside.
The protesters won, and a special place for the Blessed Sacrament was included in the chapel’s design.
“It got a lot of people upset,” Father Cox said. “It was the first time in my life I saw Catholics protest. They wanted the Lord to be present on this campus. It was beautiful to see.”