How You Can Join Millions of Catholics on a Virtual Pilgrimage to Lourdes

Currents News Staff

Through a virtual pilgrimage beginning on Friday, July 16, you can now travel to Lourdes without leaving your home. Last year, 80 million people participated.

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes is organizing the virtual pilgrimage for the second year in a row to mark the anniversary of Mary’s final Apparition at Lourdes on July 16.

Its website is hosting activities all day long, from Rosaries prayed in various languages, Masses offered for different countries, Marian prayers, and candlelit processions.

Participants will be able to pray, make offerings, light candles, and send prayer intentions online at anytime.

French President, Emmanuel Macron, will be among those present at the grotto, and will go to the shrine at Lourdes on Friday.

To join the virtual pilgrimage, head to www.lourdes-france.org and www.lourdes-france.org/lourdes-united-2021

The Museum of Family Prayer Wants You to Enter Their Second Annual Mary Garden Contest

The Museum of Family Prayer in Massachusetts is now accepting entries for its second Annual Mary Garden Contest – and they want Brooklyn and Queens to join in.

Joining Currents News to share more about Mary Gardens and the competition itself is Father Jim Phalan, the national director of Family Rosary.

If you would like to join in on the fun and show off your Mary garden, just head on over to MuseumofFamilyPrayer.org and click on “Mary Garden Contest.” The deadline to join is July 26.

Catholic News Headlines for Thursday, 7/15/21

Just in time for her birthday! An inside look into the life of the first American saint. The pop-up shrine to Mother Francis Cabrini you won’t want to miss.

And could it be a minor concession in Cuba’s fight for freedom? The government temporarily lifting restrictions on food and medicine.

Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio sending a plea to Catholics across Brooklyn and Queens- pressure Capitol Hill to keep the Hyde Amendment.

Pop-Up Exhibit in New York City Gives Special Insight into Mother Cabrini’s Life

By Emily Drooby

Tucked away at the St. Frances Cabrini Shrine in northern Manhattan, there is a room filled with relics of Mother Cabrini. It’s a pop-up exhibit, perfectly timed for the saint’s birthday that marks 75 years since her canonization.

Inside the treasure trove, you can find a calling card, her clothes, a bed she slept in – all items the saint owned or used often.

Her laundry mark adorns her sheets and even her socks. Marking clothes was how the sisters identified who owned what, since their linens were identical.

Yet, inside one room is the most important relic of all: her body.

Executive Director Julia Attaway says every year thousands come here for a chance to feel closer to the beloved saint.

“With a saint as a Catholic, those are our heroes and we want to be in contact with those who are great in that way because we can learn from them,” Julia said. “We can hopefully imagine that we can become great too.”

Now, visitors can feel even closer and learn even more about the saint who built orphanages, schools, hospitals and served the Italian immigrant community in New York City.

This pop-up gives a glimpse into who she really was, through things like the size of her frock.

“And when you stand near it, you realize she was really tiny, she was really a little thing,” explained Julia. “Her immigration papers when she became a citizen, it says that she was 5 feet tall.”

She added, “I like the fact that she was so little and so strong.”

The space is filled with little gems of knowledge that a person can’t get from a photo.

Sister Antonina Avitabile is a Missionary Sister of the Sacred Heart of Jesus which is part of the congregation that Mother Cabrini founded.

“She was human,” Sister Antonina said. “She ate like we did, she slept like we did, she was a person…if Mother could do so many good things, we can too.”

First Class Relic Belonging to Blessed Carlo Acutis Arrives in Diocese of Brooklyn

By Jessica Easthope

The relic of the first millennial considered for sainthood will travel to Catholic schools in the Diocese of Brooklyn, then will be displayed at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Bayside, Queens.

Seven small strands of hair belonging to Blessed Carlo Acutis were presented to Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, Wednesday, July 14. Thanks to the Queens’ church’s pastor, Msgr. Thomas Machalski, the relic is here to stay. He asked Bishop DiMarzio to request it with one thing in mind: evangelization.

“He used the internet for evangelization and now we have to use what he began and use his example to help change,” said Msgr. Machalski.

Acutis was a tech savvy, normal kid with a life cut tragically short. He died a week after being diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 15. The miracle that led to the Italian teen’s beatification involves a young Brazilian boy who was healed of a rare disorder after touching another of Acutis’ relics – a piece of clothing.

Acutis is admired for using the internet for good and bringing people closer to Christ through the Eucharist.

“Young people can seek holiness in their lives,” said Bishop DiMarzio. “This kid was a regular kid, wore what everybody else did. He was on the internet, everything young people did he did.”

With Acutis’ relics traveling to all of the schools throughout the diocese, young people will get to tap into their own holiness and realize that sainthood looks a lot like they do.

“We need saints that speak to the young people,” said Msgr. David Cassato, Vicar for Catholic Schools. “And he speaks to young people and the miracle is going to happen in Brooklyn.

Catholic News Headlines for Wednesday, 7/14/21

The first millennial, a teenager just like your own son or daughter, beatified by the Catholic church. Carlo Acutis’ relic is now in the Diocese of Brooklyn –– find out where you can see it.

An update on the papal progress report: Pope Francis is ready to head back to the Vatican, but not before a pit stop.

Bishops are fighting against what they call the “most extreme” pro-abortion bill they have ever seen –– see how you can take a stand for life.

One Brooklyn woman has already taken that fight into her own hands by trying to bring hope to women right before they enter an abortion clinic.

Brooklyn Woman Has Devoted Years of her Life to the Pro-Life Movement as a Sidewalk Counselor

By Currents News Staff

It’s a walk Rose has taken for years. With a cross to proclaim her faith and gloves to protect her health, day after day, she stands outside of a Brooklyn abortion clinic.

Rose tells Currents News the key to being able to come back day after day, is to, “Never, never give up on the fact that we can reach these women. But we have to do it with love.”

Rose hasn’t given up, “What am I doing that’s more important, even if it’s just prayer, someone has to be there to pray for these women.”

She started praying years ago, with Monsignor Philip Reilly and the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants, a pro-life group that runs in the Diocese of Brooklyn. They’re working where they’re needed most.

New York City is often called the abortion capital of the country. Its where 50,000 of the states 80,000 yearly abortions happen. That’s according to the Susan B. Anthony List, a nonprofit that seeks to end abortion.

Three hours a day, four days a week, Rose stands here, fighting to change that.

It’s a calling that is not without its dangers. She has been threatened.

Rose says, “But then one time one of them says, you’re all alone. Who do you got here, you’re all alone. I said, I have Jesus, Mary and Joseph.”

It’s why Rose asked Currents News not to use her last name, a way to keep her safe.

But despite the dangers – she always comes back – driven by the success stories.

Rose explains, “But she came to the place two or three times, and then on the final visit she said, ‘I can’t do it.’ Praise the Lord, and that gives you encouragement. It doesn’t seem that you’re doing anything, but you never, never, never know.”

Standing quietly on the sidewalk, as women enter the center, she hands out rosaries and pamphlets with information for local pregnancy centers.

One of them – the Life Center of New York in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

Their executive director, Fred Trabulsi explains, “Since we are working with Rose in the last six months or more, we have had maybe, four turn arounds, through Rose’s instrumentation.”

Fred says when he looks at her, he sees a possible future saint.

Bishop Octavio Cisneros Fears Situation in Cuba May Reach Dangerous Flashpoint

Currents News Staff

There are unprecedented protests taking place in Cuba. The Diocese of Brooklyn’s Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Octavio Cisneros knows first-hand about the brutal dictatorship that has had a grip on his homeland for more than 60 years.

Bishop Cisneros joined Currents News to talk about what’s ahead for the Cuban people in their fight for freedom and human rights.

Catholic News Headlines for Tuesday, 7/13/21

Heavy police patrols in Cuba as the government tries to quell the growing civil unrest in the country. Brooklyn Bishop Ocativo Cisnero, a Cuban native, explains the dire situation there.

Pope Francis is still going strong on his road to recovery. His hospital release date, however, remains unknown.

Get-well wishes and prayers seem to have worked for both the Holy Father and an educator recovering from COVID-19.

A Catholic nun celebrates a milestone anniversary with a former student, turned priest!

St. Peter’s Boys High School Principal Out of COVID-19 Coma

By Jessica Easthope

Signum fidei – it means “a sign of faith” and for the last month, that’s what Ray Cosentino has been looking for as his younger brother Mike fights for his life against COVID-19.

“The fear of losing someone you love is scary and the whole process of not knowing what’s going to happen,” Ray said. “The stress and anxiety level, it’s been hard.”

The Latin phrase is the motto of St. Peter’s Boys High School on Staten Island. It’s the school where both Ray and Mike attended and coach football. It’s also where Mike serves as the school principal. Now, after weeks of being in a coma – Mike is awake.

“Him coming out of the induced coma has all happened in the last 48, 72 hours and it’s a huge relief,” Ray said. “You get excited, but you have to remind yourself he has a long way to go.”

During the most stressful time in their lives, Ray and members of his family have been coming to the school’s grotto to plant flowers, light candles and read the signs students have been leaving. More than a year after the 35-year-old father-of-four delivered a pandemic message of hope and strength to his students, the disease had Mike in its grips in a flash.

“Mike’s always on his phone, busy, responding to people,” Ray said. “I called and checked-in. Everything just led to him going to the hospital and when he got there, it was a real concern.”

Coming to the grotto to pray is what got the Cosentino family through. Now, they want to make the space more beautiful for others. They say it’s prayers from people they’ve never met that helped Mike out of the thick of his coronavirus battle and will hopefully bring him home.

“There’s been a novena that went on for nine days and there’s still a Zoom prayer every night,” Ray said. “What do you say to that? People from other schools, other neighborhoods that don’t know my family, what can you say to that? It’s unbelievable.”

Now Mike is getting stronger every day, but he’s not out of the woods yet. So his family continues to visit the grotto. Ray says the prayers and support from the St. Peter’s community have been life-changing: this is where he comes for a sign of faith.