Seven Months Into Pandemic, Parishioners in Brooklyn Diocese Are Still Grappling With Unemployment

By Emily Drooby

Many New Yorkers are still struggling, especially when it comes to stable work.

Across the state, unemployment rates are high. The biggest numbers are coming from the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens.

The lingering unemployment woes come as a surprise to many, including Queens resident Reggie Ranjeet.

“I didn’t think it was going to last this long,” Reggie explained.

Before the pandemic, the parishioner of Holy Child Jesus Church in Richmond Hill worked in Information Technology (IT), specifically technology for restaurants. It was a field he thought was stable.

“Restaurant POS’s you would think that they would always be needed,” Reggie said, explaining Point Of Sale, a computerized system that lets business owners track things like sales, cash flow, and food inventory. “But with the current situation, of everything restaurants can’t afford to stay open, restaurants are closing, they’re not having as much staff as they used to.”

He was furloughed back in April and like many New Yorkers, used unemployment to get by. But there was always hope, until the beginning of this month.

“On October 5, they finally terminated me due to the global position of how the restaurant business is running right now,” he explained.

Many restaurants are still struggling. In fact, according to the The New York State Restaurant Association, 63 percent of NY restaurants say they’ll close by the end of the year without state or federal help. Reggie’s job is a casualty of this state-wide struggle and it left him feeling unstable.

He was “a little bit nervous, a little bit scared, keeping up with the rent and all the other bills and expenses, things like that.”

The devout Catholic has used his faith as a rock, taking this time off to help his church with technology repairs and grow his own business ReggieTech — a computer and technology repair company with a YouTube channel.

He even did home restorations, all of this while he continued to look for a job.

Reggie is just one example of so many who are still struggling to find stable and well-paying employment

In the city, the recent weekly unemployment numbers are still six to 11 times higher than they were last year.

Food pantries in New York City are also still seeing long lines, with an estimated 1.5 million unable to afford food.

Reggie has a message for everyone who is struggling:

“Don’t let it bring you down. It gets tough sometimes, things get rough but you really got to look for it and have the faith that there is going to be a better day next. Things are going to work out, everything happens for a reason. I can definitely say that everything happens for a reason.”

Currents News full broadcast for Tues, 10/20/20 (Catholic news)

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

Some of the top stories on this newscast:

Another blow to Catholic schools already struggling to make it through the pandemic.

Will COVID restrictions on some churches in red zones be lifted?

The pain from unemployment because of coronavirus is being felt hard in parts of the Brooklyn Diocese.

Coping with the pressures of the pandemic – some pro advice for helping kids navigate these unprecedented times.

Brooklyn Diocese Catholic School Speaks Out on HEROES Act COVID-19 Relief Bill Snub

By Jessica Easthope

Students filing in to Bay Ridge Catholic Academy can’t enter their classrooms without a temperature check. Once they get to their classrooms, on all of their desks and the walls of every classroom is hand sanitizer.

The precautions the school is taking to make sure its in-person mode is safe and successful come with a price tag.

“The superficial cost of the pandemic for PPE ranges into the tens of thousands and the larger costs associated with the smaller class sizes that we’ve agreed to partner with the state on losses can total into the hundreds of thousands,” said Kevin Flanagan, the principal of the newly merged school.

Bay Ridge Catholic Academy is among the tens of thousands of Catholic and other non-public schools left out of the HEROES Act. The proposed legislation would allocate $182B of pandemic relief for kindergarten through twelfth grade public schools only.

“The fact that we were not included is terribly disrespectful to all the schools that are open for live instruction every day, we proved that instruction can occur daily, safely,” Flanagan said.

This is the latest blow to American Catholic education. 150 Catholic schools closed for good this year — 26 were in New York City.

“This has been for a devastating time for Catholic schools they have spent millions of dollars to reopen and they’ve had no outbreaks – why because they’ve spent the money on disinfecting and social distancing and rearranging things,” said Dennis Poust, the Director of Communications for the New York State Catholic Conference.

Earlier this month Bishop Michael Barber, who leads the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Catholic Education, released a statement about the HEROES Act.

“It is unconscionable that this latest aid proposal would exclude these American children and the schools they attend from emergency aid that would ease the financial burdens they have borne as a result of the pandemic,” Bishop Barber said.

“So many of our parents who send their kids to our schools, they’re blue collar parents and they’re first responders and yet the House Democrats are turning their backs on them and it’s really such a shame,” said Poust.

Bay Ridge Catholic Academy parents say the current proposal for the HEROES Act is unfair.

“There needs to be equity. Our Catholic schools are doing a great job at keeping us open and educating our children while the public schools are going hybrid or remote and they’re getting the funding,” said Michelle Gellar, a parent with two children in the school.

“It’s important that the schools are open and the kids are in school, and to do that we need funding and any funding we can get would be a great help,” said John Cafiero, another parent.

Negotiations over the HEROES Act are ongoing. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has requested ten percent of what’s being afforded to public schools be given to non-public schools.

How to Care for Your Kids’ Mental Health Through the Pandemic

Currents News Staff

New York City’s kids are caught in the middle as pandemic numbers continue to rise and fall — schools are opening and closing left and right. The back and forth can confuse kids, and take a toll on their mental health.

Dr. Kate Walsh-Soucheray is a licensed marriage and family therapist and is on the board of the Catholic Psychotherapy Association.

She joins Currents News to share what parents can do to support their children through these difficult times, and offers kids a “homework assignment” — a workbook that can help them name and navigate the feelings they encounter, with Jesus’ love for them in mind.

Click here to download the homework assignment:

Early Voting Underway in Record Numbers as Election Day 2020 Approaches

Currents News Staff

If the 2020 presidential campaign is a marathon, President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden are starting the 26th mile.

As both campaigns are stumping, millions of voters have already taken part in the political process.

“We’re going to win,” President Trump said. “I wouldn’t have said that three weeks ago.”

“I promise you, I’ll work as hard for those who don’t support me as those who did,” said Joe Biden.

More than 28 million Americans have cast their ballots early.

“Democracy is not a spectator sport,” said Eugene Wallace, a voter from Pennsylvania. “It’s not for bleacher bums. You gotta get involved, so that’s why I’m here and I’m gonna do my democratic duty.”

“You know, if you don’t vote, don’t complain for the next four years,” says Tracy Alston-Bunn from Hanover Township in Pennsylvania. “That’s the way I look at it.”

Over the next 14 days, voters will decide whether to have another term with the Trump administration, or start a new era with a Biden White House.

“With your continued support, every day between now and November 3, we’re going to have a great victory,” said Vice President Mike Pence

“Justice is on the ballot in 2020,” said Sen. Kamala Harris. “Economic justice is on the ballot in 2020. Climate justice is on the ballot in 2020.”

Trump and Biden are scheduled to debate for the second and final time this Thursday, Oct. 22.

The commission on the presidential debates announced microphones will be muted to prevent interruptions.

Demonstrators Burn Two Churches in Chile on Anniversary of Protests

By Catholic News Service and Currents News

SANTIAGO, Chile (CNS) — Demonstrators burned two Catholic churches in Chile, where gatherings to mark the one-year anniversary of mass protests against inequality descended into chaos.

Church officials and media reports described the Oct. 18 gatherings through the country as peaceful, but unrest broke out late in the day, with some protesters entering and vandalizing parishes in Santiago, the national capital.

Videos posted on social media showed the spire of Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Santiago burning, then crashing to the ground as a nearby crowd cheered.

St. Francis Borgia Church also was vandalized, and religious items were stolen, a church official said. The parish is home to institutional ceremonies for the “Carabineros,” Chile’s national police, a force unpopular with protesters over accusations of it employing repressive tactics, including 345 eye injuries from the use of pellets shot from anti-riot weapons, according to a U.N. report.

“These events over the past few hours in Santiago and other cities in Chile show that there are no limits to those that exacerbate violence,” the Chilean bishops’ conference said in an Oct. 18 statement.

“These violent groups contrast with many others who have demonstrated peacefully. The vast majority of Chile yearns for justice and effective measures that help to overcome inequality. They do not want more corruption or abuse; they expect dignified, respectful and fair treatment.”

Archbishop Celestino Aós Braco of Santiago called for an end to the violence Oct. 18, calling it evil and saying, “We cannot justify the unjustifiable.”

Chile erupted in protests in October 2019 after an increase in metro fares in the city of Santiago. But the small fare increase belied much deeper dissatisfaction with economic inequality in the country, which had been promoted in recent decades as a development success story with pro-market policies.

Chileans go to the polls Oct. 25 in a referendum on whether to rewrite the nation’s constitution, which was drafted during the 1973-1990 regime of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

Many of the protests have demanded rewriting the constitution; the bishops have encouraged citizen participation in the demonstrations.

“The citizenry that wants justice, probity, the overcoming of inequalities and opportunities to be able to pull ourselves up as a country will not be intimidated by threats of violence and will fulfill their civic duty,” the bishops’ statement said. “In democracies, we express ourselves with free votes of conscience, not the pressures of terror and force.”

The assailing of two parishes comes as Chile’s Catholic Church suffers the fallout from accusations of clergy sexual abuse and the hierarchy’s improper response to such crimes. A January survey from polling firm Cadem found that 75% of respondents disapprove of the church’s performance.

Currents News full broadcast for Mon, 10/19/20 (Catholic news)

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

Some of the top stories on this newscast:

An exclusive story about priests helping other priests battle addiction in the Diocese of Brooklyn.

Could some COVID restrictions on churches in red zones be lifted soon? What Governor Cuomo is saying now.

The faithful in Brooklyn honor Father Jorge Ortiz-Garay – the first priest in the United States to die from coronavirus.

And human trafficking is a modern-day plague. How one group in Queens is using an unconventional form of therapy to help those who escaped.

Talitha Kum, Lifeway Network Help Human Trafficking Survivors Express Themselves Through Art

By Emily Drooby

Laughter fills the room at LifeWay as survivors of human trafficking create their own art — it’s a unique form of therapy.

Founded by Sister Joan Dawber, LifeWay provides safe housing to women who have been trafficked and information to the public to spread awareness of this modern-day plague.

“When they come to LifeWay they are experiencing different forms of trauma. There are times when they have a difficulty expressing themselves verbally,” explained Audrienne Boyd, the director of safe housing for LifeWay Network. “So we found that art therapy is another way for them to heal through the process, through the canvas.”

Just like Audrienne explained, LifeWay’s art-expression program helps survivors express themselves.

Marion Kendall is the executive director of LifeWay Network, and was present when the workshop happened.

“Within minutes, you were able to see that the women were in a safe place and they felt that this was an opportunity for them to be their authentic selves without having to tell us who were the observers, what this color meant, what this stroke meant to them,” explained Marion.

Art therapy has been part of the program at LifeWay for a while, but this specific workshop had some help from a familiar face.

Talitha Kum and their Patreon fundraising website. Currents News introduced viewers to them back in early August.

Right before the workshop, producer of the Patreon initiative, Nickey Frankel dropped off about $1,000 worth of donated art supplies to the LifeWay safehouse.

The donation was made possible by artist John Couch, who is a part of the Patreon and also taught the tutorial the survivors followed for this workshop. The supplies was donated by Jerry’s Artarama.

Many of these survivors have endured unimaginable horrors. Some haven’t been removed from dangerous situations for that long. But in this powerful workshop, LifeWay Network employees began to see a real change. A step towards healing.

“Very profound, very powerful,”said Marion. “I also witnessed a survivor who is fresh out of her compelling situation, creating a masterpiece, but was unable to share that with everyone…but the work was so incredible.”

The survivors found the program to be so helpful that LifeWay has decided to continue holding similar workshops in the future.

Transition House Helps Brooklyn Diocese Priests Conquer Sobriety

By Jessica Easthope

Joseph Calise is a Catholic priest. He’s also a recovering alcoholic.

“There were some really wonderful, rich experiences,” Msgr. Calise said as he looked at pictures from his younger days, “but they could have been so much richer and I could have brought so much more to them.”

The monsignor hasn’t had a drink in 30 years but he still remembers the pain, the wasted days and the broken promises.

“I set certain standards,” he said. “I will never drink before a certain time of the day and when I did, I would just change the time of the day. I’ll never drive if I’m under the influence and thank God I never hurt anyone but I did drive under the influence.”

He’s not the only one. According to the St. John Vianney Center, 10 percent of all clergy suffer from addiction. A statistic Msgr. Calise has now devoted his life to changing.

“There was a lot of shame, a lot of guilt,” he said. “I really needed to get into an atmosphere where I could overcome that and begin to live some of my own self-respect as a priest and a priest of this specific diocese. That’s what this house is about.”

He’s now helping coordinate Transition House, a unique model designed for something rarely talked about.

“This house provides a warm and welcoming atmosphere for any priest in need for time for healing and time for getting ready for whatever God is leading them to,” said diocesan Vicar for Clergy, Auxiliary Bishop Raymond Chappetto.

Transition House is run out of St. Stanislaus Kostka’s rectory and serves as a built-in halfway house for clergy in the Brooklyn Diocese who have completed inpatient treatment. But it’s not just for priests who suffer with addiction.

“It really is a house of transition from one period of their life to another period of their life,” Bishop Chappetto said. “Priests can come here for other reasons as well, not only after being released from treatment but for a time of respite, a time of reflection and to prepare for a new assignment.”

Since the program began three years ago, 14 priests have come through Transition House and half of them have been treated for some type of addiction. Msgr. Calise and Bishop Chappetto are not alone in this undertaking. They partner with Msgr. Edward Doran, who is a clinical psychologist and licensed counselor.

“My responsibility in the Transition House is to be available to facilitate a climate of healing and building and a sense of community,” said Msgr. Doran.

A full rectory can prove to be a very supportive community. Yet, with the number of locations slowing down, more and more priests returning from treatment are alone, which makes it harder to conquer sobriety. Msgr. Doran says part of the irony of being a priest is that the busier you are, the easier it is to be swallowed into a life of loneliness.

“The busy-ness that’s part of priesthood is both a blessing and a curse,” he said. “The busy-ness of priesthood is something that will always be there but the challenge is to go up the mountain and spend some time with the Lord and explore what’s going on in our lives.”

The hope is the community Transition House offers will replace addiction in their lives, just like it did for Msgr. Calise.

“They need that chance to find that time and place to feel compassion,” he said, “but to establish the self-respect that says I deserve the compassion I received.”

The goal of the program is simple: to let priests suffering in the shadows know that there is help and more importantly there is a future.

If any priest in the Brooklyn Diocese is interested in receiving treatment or struggling in anyway, they can contact Transition House at 718-326-2185. All calls are confidential.

As Italy Faces “Second Wave” of COVID-19, Evidence Shows A Different Impact

Currents News Staff

Italy recorded a record number of positive COVID-19 tests for the fifth day running on Sunday.

But in a marked contrast to the ‘first wave’, the number of patients in intensive care remains relatively low.

Italy is well into the second wave of coronavirus, though it’s not immediately apparent in Naples, the capital of the Campania region – which has one of the highest numbers of COVID-19 cases in the country.

Infectious disease specialist Alessandro Perrella says it’s not just about the numbers.

“We have an increasing number of positive people, positive, not an increasing number of patients. It’s very different,” says Perrella.

What’s different is the testing. Earlier this year, only those showing COVID-like symptoms were tested. Now everyone can do it.

The majority of people who prove positive are asymptomatic, isolating until recovery.

The number people in intensive care now approximately a fifth of what it was before.

Day after day Italy is reporting record increases in the number of new coronavirus cases. But Italy is also testing like never before.

At a hospital in Naples every day, seven days a week, around a thousand tests are conducted – quickly, and for free.

Five times as many tests are being conducted now than at the height of first wave in march.

A once unwieldy process, now routine. There’s no air of panic, but there is concern.

The number of new cases is erupting in Italy and the peak of this wave is far off. Better prepared this time, Italy is still bracing for a long, hard winter.