Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Academy Puts a New Spin on the Hybrid Model

By Jessica Easthope

As schools in the Brooklyn Diocese began reopening, it was obvious there was no “one size fits all” plan.

Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Academy in Corona, Queens opened under a hybrid model, but with their own spin on it: parents can choose whether or not they want to send their kids into school every 30 days.

“It just accommodates the parents because they’re going back to work, and it’s wonderful, and they know they can bring their kids to school,” said Principal Dr. Cristina Tancredi-Cruz.

The school’s model is a reflection of Corona’s 15 percent unemployment rate. For the parents who are now back at work after being unemployed for months, the only option is to send their kids to school. Right now, about 60 percent are doing in-person learning.

“I’ve delivered food, I’ve gone into my own pocket to get food for a family in need,” said Jeanette Felix, the school’s administrative assistant. “There are still a lot of families in hardship and we want to make sure they can feed their families.”

Parents who opted for in-person learning say they’re breathing a sigh of relief.

“God forbid she gets sick, I have the option to keep her at home and every 30 days I can change it. I can work around my work schedule and still keep her educated,” said Anna Estrella as she dropped her daughter off on Sept. 15.

Kindergarten teacher Stacy Nieves has most of her class in school with her. Though the hybrid model has been challenging , she says she pushes though for the sake of her kids.

“The first thing that we need is patience,” Stacy said. “I make sure my class comes first and my kids are okay and we’ll move on.”

As for the parents who are still helping to teach their kids at home alongside their virtual classes, they’re asking for the same.

“It’s all about having a little more patience and understanding,” said Kathy Duran who keeps her 5-year-old daughter, Sofia, at home.

Kathy’s parents are visiting from the Dominican Republic, which means when Sofia is asked if there are any visitors at home before she’s let into school, she would have to answer yes. She would then be sent home.

Even though teaching her daughter is a lot to take on, Kathy keeps her home for the safety of her family and everyone at school.

“Other schools are doing it – all in or nothing – so they’re doing an excellent play on that because sometimes it doesn’t work out for you, but you have that option of switching it up,” Kathy said.

Our Lady of Sorrows is expecting 80 percent of students to return to school by October 1.

Annual Catholic Prayer Service Celebrated on United Nations’ 75th Anniversary

By Emily Drooby

The General Assembly of the United Nations opened on September 15, its 75th session. This milestone year was overshadowed by major changes caused by the global pandemic. One tradition that did carry on was the annual opening prayer service.

As the prayer to end the pandemic was offered, the pews were only half full.

“So, it’s more of a symbolic presence, but we really wanted to have this anyway because of the importance of the 75th anniversary,” said Monsignor David Charters, the First Secretary for the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the U.N.

Because of the pandemic, changes for the 34th annual opening prayer service meant it was held at the Church of the Holy Family in Midtown, Manhattan.

“We always begin by asking for the help that human beings need in order to accomplish the high goals that take place at the U.N.,” said Father Roger Landry, “for us to ask God’s help for all that we are going to be about this year, as we likewise pray for the needs of the world.”

Fr. Landry is the Attaché for the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the U.N.

Just like the prayer service, the General Assembly itself will look very different this year. Normally there’s a sea of presidential motorcades, but this year, the streets around the U.N. will be quiet as the General Assembly is held almost entirely virtually. It’s an odd change coinciding with the 75th anniversary.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York says that the adjustment is important because of the essential work that the U.N. does.

“The popes are forever like Jesus, trying to be bridge builders, to speak about dialogue and that’s what the United Nations does,’ he told Currents News. “It’s painful, it takes a lot of patience, there’s a lot of set-backs, but boy-oh-boy we need all the help we can get, and I think the U.N. gives us a lot.”

Social distancing stickers were on the ground and masks were worn by the faithful — a reminder that the prayer vigil was also adjusted to work with the times.

Archbishop Gabriele Caccia was grateful that this event was still held.

“Jesus told us to ‘go and preach the Gospel to all nations,’ and the U.N. represents all nations, so having this moment is like to fulfill the commandments of Jesus,” he said.

This was Archbishop Caccia’s first annual prayer service as the new Papal Ambassador to the United Nations.

Cyber Security and the Virtual Classroom: How to Protect Yourself Online

Currents News Staff

Now that children are returning to school, a host of concerns are on the minds of parents and educators, including the risk of cyber attacks while children are learning remotely.

Joining Currents News to talk about how to protect yourself and your virtual classroom from security breaches is Vice President of Engineering at Checkpoint Software, Jeff Schwartz.

No Tricks, Just Triumph: Christian Skateboarder Evangelizes Through His One-of-a-Kind Ministry

Currents News Staff

Mike Steinkamp is certain of at least two things. One is that he’s a skateboarder. The other is that he’s a Christian. That’s why in 2010, he started MS Skate Ministry, with a simple mission in mind.

“So me being a Christian and a skateboarder my entire life, I instantly felt called to reach skateboarders with the message of Jesus, because these are my friends,” Mike says.

“[They’re] the people that I hang out with on a day-to-day basis, and most of them don’t go to church, don’t know anything about Jesus, don’t know anything about the Gospel. So I feel like this missionary to this culture,” he told Currents News.

On its website and various social media accounts, MS Skate Ministry publishes videos of skateboarders, like Mike, doing what they love. At the same time, they convey messages to help other skateboarders develop a relationship with God.

“I understand the difficulties that they have with believing in Christ,” Mike says. “I understand these things. I understand the culture and the things that they’re hearing from the skateboarding world, because I’m deeply rooted and connected in it.”

To make the Christian message even more accessible to skateboarders, Mike wrote a 14-day devotional for his “Landing Bolts” app, available on the Apple store.

“Basically it’s just my attempt to break down passages of the Bible and make it in a way that skateboarders can understand, especially skateboarders that have not grown up in the Church or that have no history with the Gospel,” he said.

MS Skate Ministry was simply the result of an authentic response to a call. It shows that missionaries aren’t necessarily priests or nuns who travel to remote parts of the world. They can be those guys at the local skate park, just doing what they love, but with a certainty about who they are and who they follow.

Brooklyn Couple Celebrates 40-Year Wedding Anniversary by Retracing the Steps of Their Big Day

By Emily Drooby

In August of 2020, Barbara and Mario Belluomo recreated a photo they took on their wedding day, 40 years prior.

They did this while they retraced their wedding day steps on their anniversary.

“We grew up in Brooklyn, we did so many things in Brooklyn,” Mario explained. “Nostalgia keeps you alive.”

The couple were married on Aug. 23 1980, after meeting five years before that, at a disco in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

“It was her first big night out,” Mario said.

“It was my first big night out ever,” Barbara added, “and I met him there.”

Mario was immediately drawn to her. “I noticed her sweetness. She was so shy and pleasant and calm. She just drew to me,” he said.

Forty years later and the married couple have been through a lot together: trips, graduations, children and grandchildren.

The couple says adventures and doing things together are their secret for success. So for their anniversary adventure, they decided to go back and recreate one of their happiest days.

Starting at Our Lady of Angels Church in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, where they were married. The couple took a trip down memory lane and the aisle.

It’s the church where Barbara was baptized and where her parents were married, too.

Next, the couple stopped by their catering hall and Marcy’s Photo Studio where they had their wedding photos taken. Both businesses have since been replaced, but that didn’t ruin the happy day.

“Even though things change and neighborhoods change, it makes you feel good,” Mario added. “It’s just nice, it’s nice to remember those moments as to who you were.”

For this strong couple — this strong team — they’ll always have the memories, and they’ll always have each other.

Top Officials Optimistic About Renewal of Vatican-China Deal

By Currents News Staff and Elise Ann Allen

ROME (Crux) – Over the past week, top officials from both China and the Vatican have given indications that the controversial agreement between the two on the appointment of bishops, which expires at the end of September, will be renewed.

According to Italian news agency Ansa, Vatican Secretary of State Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin spoke to a group of journalists on the margins of a Sept. 14 conference with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, saying the agreement with China is set to expire “in October,” but that the common intention of both parties is to renew the deal.

The conference Cardinal Parolin attended was called, “45 years from the Helsinki Accords, Cardinal Silvestrini, and Vatican Ostpolitik.”

His remarks come days after Zhao Lijian, spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, also expressed optimism for the renewal of the agreement during a regular Sept. 10 press conference.

Asked if he was hopeful that China’s deal with the Vatican on the appointment of bishops would be extended for another two years, Lijian said that thanks to efforts from both sides, “the interim agreement on the appointment of bishops between China and the Vatican has been implemented successfully since it was signed nearly two years ago.”

“Since the beginning of this year, the two sides have lent mutual support to each other amid COVID-19 pandemic, stayed committed to upholding global public health security, and accumulated greater mutual trust and consensuses through a series of positive interactions,” he said.

In this light, Lijian insisted that both China and the Holy See “will continue to maintain close communication and consultation and improve bilateral relations.”

When the coronavirus hit Italy in March, China was among the many nations that sent help, providing both doctors and medical equipment in mid-March when the coronavirus was nearing its peak. Two Chinese charitable organizations also sent health supplies such as face masks to the Vatican Pharmacy to support COVID patients.

The Vatican later issued a public statement thanking China for the assistance, yet made no such gesture toward Taiwan, which also sent donations of food and medical equipment to both the Vatican and numerous religious institutes throughout Rome, despite being one of Taiwan’s sole 14 diplomatic partners and the only one in Europe.

It has long been known that the Vatican under Pope Francis desperately wants formal diplomatic ties with the People’s Republic of China. The 2018 secret agreement on the appointment of bishops was interpreted by many as a step in this direction, and the Vatican’s silence toward Taiwan – officially known as the Republic of China – during the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy was a clear sign to many of just how far the Holy See would go to ensure that the door they have stays open.

It should be no surprise, then, that Cardinal Parolin’s optimism about the renewal of the deal came on the margins of a conference on the Vatican’s Ostpolitik policy.

Originally, Ostpolitik was a term in the late 1960s to describe normalization of relations between East and West Germany. Later, it also came to refer to efforts under Pope Paul VI to engage Eastern European communist regimes through compromise and agreements with the aim of building on small gains over time.

The same basic approach has been employed for China by each of Pope Paul VI’s successors, including Pope Francis – with the exception, perhaps, of Pope John Paul I, whose 33 days in office didn’t allow much time for international affairs.

In fact, Cardinal Achille Silvestrini, the Italian Vatican diplomat featured in Monday’s conference and who once served as head of the Congregation for Eastern Churches, was a key player in employing this tactic as the Vatican intervened in the bid to reduce tensions between the Soviet Union and western blocs.

Cardinal Silvestrini participated in each stage of the Helsinki conference on security and cooperation in Europe in 1975, which yielded the Helsinki Accords, signed by 35 nations in an attempt to secure the post-World War II status quo in Europe. Cardinal Silvestrini also lent a hand in the prep work and implementation of the 1975 conference.

Among other things, the Helsinki Accords enshrined respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms such as the freedoms of thought, conscience, religion, or belief.

Opponents of Pope Francis’ agreement with China on the appointment of bishops have argued that these are the freedoms China has consistently denied to the Catholic Church and other religious denominations for years, and which the deal allows them to perpetuate without repercussion.

However, both the Holy See and China are masters at playing the long game.

Reacting to criticism at conference on religious freedom last spring, Cardinal Parolin said the Holy See’s vision in making the agreement was to “help advance religious freedom, to find normalization for the Catholic community there.”

He stressed the need to be patient, saying, “history has not been built in one day. History is a long process, and I think we have to put ourselves in this perspective.”

Currents News full broadcast for Mon, 9/14/20 (Catholic news)

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

Some of the top stories on this newscast:

Nine priests in the Diocese of Brooklyn assume the title of monsignor in recognition of their life-long commitment to the faithful they’ve served for decades.

The reason why the Twitter page for the Conservative Party of NYS was taken down for months is still left unanswered.

Pro-life Democrats are demanding change – they want the Democratic party and the Catholics who vote for them to reverse their stance on abortion.

Bishop James Massa is now the new rector of St. Joseph’s Seminary.

Conservative Party of New York State Searches for Answers Following Months-Long Twitter Shutdown

By Emily Drooby

Back on July 9, Twitter deactivated Conservative Party of New York State’s account. It remained deactivated until September 10.

While it is back up and running, their Chairman, Gerard Kassar says they still don’t have a reason for the shutdown.

“This is a major communications aspect of how we tell people what we are thinking about,” he said, adding, “we feel certain that we lost exposure because for us the Twitter account becomes the basis of people retweeing.”

Gerard is a parishioner of St. Ephrem in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn.

This is the third time their Twitter has been shut down this year. It happened for a few days in February, and for over a week in April.

This time, the account was down for over two months, leaving them unable to tweet during a critical time in the election season and through both party conventions.

“We are an official political party of the State of New York, with a ballot line, where all sorts of candidates are appearing on it this year, so it kind of ties in with hundreds of political races,” Gerard explained. “So I think to that degree, Twitter had no sense of what they had done.”

They reached out to Twitter multiple times and didn’t hear back. Then New York State Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt and State Assembly Republican Leader Will Barclay got involved.

He wrote to Twitter, “…we demand answers on why one of the world’s largest social media platforms decided to silence New York conservatives?”

They further called it a violation of free speech, demanding the page be reactivated. The letter worked.

“All of a sudden we received from Twitter, a note indicating, ‘We apologize, your account has been reinstated.’ Still no explanation,” said Gerard.

Still, there’s the big question that’s been left unanswered: Why?

Twitter told the group they were flagged as spam by mistake. Separately, a spokesperson told Currents News, “We took enforcement action on the account referenced in error.”

The Conservative Party of NYS has over 150,000 registered members.

Gerard explained, “I am concerned that we didn’t get a reason and I would say to you that’s something this company has to look at.”

He says he was confused as to what they even might have violated. Adding he believes nothing on their Twitter is controversial.

The account posts “very straight forward public statements that were occurring from major political leaders or institutions in this country,” Gerard said.

Gerard is hopeful that with political leaders’ involvement they’ll be spared from another shut down, but says he doesn’t think this is the end of the story.

With TerrierSTAR Fund, Support From Julie Chen, St. Francis Prep Keeps Students Enrolled Amid COVID

By Jessica Easthope

The hallways of St. Francis Preparatory High School in Fresh Meadows, Queens were packed Sept. 14 for the first day of school, but to the students themselves, they were empty.

Less than half of the 2,450 students were at the school, which opened on a hybrid model.

Each student was affected by the pandemic in a different way.

“My mom was up all night on facetime with my dad, he’d stop breathing and the nurses wouldn’t come in so my mom would have to call,” said Giana, 18 and Eva Giacalone, 14, sisters who attend St. Francis Prep.

School was the last thing on their minds when their dad was hospitalized with COVID-19 and fighting for his life.

“I was afraid I wasn’t ever going to see my dad ever again,” Giana said as her eyes welled up with tears.

The virus was also a financial threat to their family. Their dad’s barber shop was closed, and their parents didn’t think they could afford to send the girls back to Prep.

“When the parents were emailing me and writing me and telling me some very sad stories, that’s when we said we need to step up to the plate,” said Brother Leonard Conway, president of the school.

That’s when the TerrierSTAR Fund was formed. Alumni donations totaling $775,000 went toward keeping Prep students in school. Now Giana and Eva are back where they belong.

“The principal called and he told her that we didn’t have to worry about it. I truly can’t picture me and my sister being anywhere else, my mom couldn’t believe they were willing to help us,” the sisters said.

Last school year the TerrierSTAR Fund helped 275 families. This year it will help cover tuition costs for 425 families.

For Principal Patrick McLaughlin, keeping kids in school is personal.

“My parents had difficulty paying tuition and I was lucky enough to have a friend of ours step up and do that for me at that time,” McLaughlin said.

The school community instantly rallied around its students. One of them went as far as to match every single dollar donated, television personality Julie Chen, Class of 1987.

Though the students come and go, the community they gain at Prep is forever.

Meet Antonio Arellano, the Man Who Makes Pope Benedict XVI’s Red Shoes

Currents News Staff

Antonio Arellano was born in Trujillo, Peru, and he’s been in Italy for 30 years. His profession, hard work and dedication have led him to make shoes for all types of people, but there’s one in particular that has marked his life, thanks to a special pair of red shoes: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

“It was a huge joy. [When they called me,] I shared this happiness with my son, Daniel,” said Antonio. “I told him, They ordered my shoes for Benedict! This is great! It was wonderful! That’s how I felt.”

From that moment, a lasting friendship grew between the German pope and this Peruvian cobbler.

“On my fiftieth birthday, by 10 a.m., no one had called me to wish me a happy birthday. My phone hadn’t rung. In that moment, the pope’s driver showed up,” Antonio explained. “He said to me, ‘The Holy Father sends you a gift and his congratulations.’”

Antonio has collected thousands of anecdotes during his 30 years in this profession. He recounts some of them in his book, “Il Calzolaio del Papa,” “The Pope’s Shoemaker.” In it, he shares the secrets that made his dream come true.

“Faith is big. Having faith is the most beautiful thing in life. It is life. Faith moves mountains. Having faith in God and trying to keep your head in the right place allows you to accomplish great things, but you always need to work—to work with love,” said Antonio. “Everything you do, do it for a good reason, not so much for money. Do it for a good cause, and then the money will come.”

Antonio runs his store a short distance away from the Vatican. His son, Daniel, helps him with his work.

They’re attentive, hard-working and detail-oriented. They have an unusual ability to connect with their customers, making them feel like family. Many consider them true shoe-making artists.

“When the shoe is ready, you take out the mold and look at it,” he said. “I just say, ‘Oh my gosh! It’s beautiful!’ I say to myself, ‘Great job, Antonio!’”

That same enthusiasm is what goes into each of his shoes, from the classics to the most colorful, those for important public figures to those he makes for daily use.

Hard work and passion are part of the small details he talks about in his book, “Il Calzolaio del Papa.” It’s currently available in Italian and will be translated into Spanish and English.