Another blow to the Haitian community here in the diocese – Guy Sansaricq, the first bishop of Haitian descent both here in Brooklyn and in the U.S. – passed away over the weekend.
The FDA on Monday fully approving Pfizer’s vaccine – replacing the emergency authorization given to the shot in December.
By John Lavenburg & Currents News Staff
NEW YORK — When Patricia Brintle founded the From Here to Haiti nonprofit in 2010, she remembers that Bishop Guy A. Sansaricq was a stabilizing force throughout the process, remaining by her side for the next 10 years guiding the organization’s efforts to aid the Caribbean nation.
On Saturday, Aug. 21, Bishop Sansaricq, a retired auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Brooklyn and the first Haitian bishop in the United States, died at age 86. Brintle, and others who knew him, describe him as a kind and humble man who was a quiet but effective leader and a “lifeline to the Haitian community” worldwide.
“I feel that we lost a giant. We lost a saint,” Brintle said. “For all From Here to Haiti has accomplished, it has been because of the guidance of Bishop [Sansaricq]. Haitians have suffered a lot, and the bishop had suffered a lot, but he never lost his faith, and that was the example Haitians were following.”
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio described Bishop Sansaricq as an important figure for the Haitian community who was “was very active, right to the end.”
“Bishop Sansaricq was the first Haitian American Bishop in the United States,” Bishop DiMarzio said. “He was a symbol of the progress of the Haitian people here and, as someone who served as a bishop, gave the Haitian community some recognition and stature as immigrant people, a ministry he served very well.”
Sunday, Aug. 22, was the 15th anniversary of Bishop Sansaricq’s episcopal ordination as an auxiliary bishop in the Diocese of Brooklyn. Auxiliary Bishop Octavio Cisneros of Brooklyn and Bishop Frank Caggiano of Bridgeport were episcopally ordained at the same time.
Bishop Cisneros said it was a special day for himself and Bishop Caggiano, as well as for Bishop Sansaricq, who is now “in the company of the saints, together with Jesus who has called us to be his servants.”
He described Bishop Sansaricq as humble and a true pastor.
“He wasn’t very concerned about pomp and circumstance. He would be happy to stand at the end of the line. He will be happy to sweep the floor before a ceremony,” Bishop Cisneros said. “He was the kind of person that we want to see as a pastor. He was a man truly chosen by God to be an example of what it means to be an apostle.”
Bishop Sansaricq was born on Oct. 6, 1934, in the small town of Jérémie, Haiti, located on the country’s southern peninsula about 116 miles from Port-au-Prince.
About a decade later, Bishop Sansaricq’s priestly ordination was on June 29, 1960, at the Cathedral of Port-au-Prince. He spent the next year as an assistant priest at the Cathedral of Les Cayes. Then, in October 1961, he was sent to the Bahamas as the chaplain for Haitian immigrants in that country, where he would remain until September 1968.
Bishop Sansaricq spent the next three years earning a master’s degree from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome before being assigned to Sacred Heart Parish in Cambria Heights, Queens. He served there for 22 years, from 1971-1993.
His next stop was St. Jerome Parish in Brooklyn, where he was pastor from 1993-2006 before being episcopally ordained as an auxiliary bishop for the diocese. He would hold that role until his retirement on Oct. 24, 2010.
Throughout his time in the Diocese of Brooklyn, Bishop Sansaricq was committed to the Haitian community. He helped found and was the first director of the National Center of the Haitian Apostolate and created Haitian-Americans United for Progress.
Bishop Cisneros also noted that Bishop Sansaricq worked hard to translate religious works to Creole for the Haitian community.
Father Hilaire Belizaire, the pastor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Cambria Heights and the coordinator of ministry to Haitian immigrants in the diocese, highlighted Bishop Sansaricq’s work ethic and lifelong commitment to the Haitian community.
“Bishop Sansaricq never retired. He continued up until his last breath,” Father Belizaire said. “This is a man of great heart. He has great love for God and dedicated his life to his people, and he has that kind of spirit to welcome everyone, to be there for everyone.”
Msgr. Sean Ogle, the vicar for clergy and consecrated life in the Diocese of Brooklyn and chairman of the board of DeSales Media, said he last spoke to Bishop Sansaricq on August 17 to offer prayers for the people of Haiti after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit the island on Aug. 14.
Msgr. Ogle said Bishop Sansaricq was planning relief efforts.
“So great and immediate was his concern,” Msgr. Ogle said in a statement. “It was typical of this man, who was the soul of both charity and action. Our diocese was blessed to have such a priest and bishop, and he will be sorely missed.”
Only a few weeks earlier, Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami last spoke to Bishop Sansaricq about the assassination of Haiti’s president Jovenel Moïse. Archbishop Wenski said he had known Bishop Sansaricq since about 1980. They worked together to coordinate the Haitian Apostolate in the United States, as the Diocese of Brooklyn and the Archdiocese of Miami have two of the largest Haitian Catholic populations.
Archbishop Wenski looks at the growth of the Haitian Catholic community in the United States — which has added many parishioners over the years and now has about 70 priests nationwide — and acknowledges that it wouldn’t have been possible “without pioneers like Sansaricq that kept the faith alive in the early days.”
“May he rest in peace,” Archbishop Wenski said. “It’s the passing of an era.”
A wake for Bishop Sansaricq will be held on Tuesday, August 31, from 3-9 p.m. at St. Jerome Roman Catholic Church, Brooklyn, and Wednesday, Sept. 1, from 3-7 p.m. at St. Gregory the Great Roman Catholic Church, Brooklyn.
A vigil Mass will be celebrated on Wednesday, September 1, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Gregory the Great Roman Catholic Church, Brooklyn.
The Mass of Christian burial will be held on Thursday, September 2, at 11 a.m. at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph, Brooklyn.
Masks will be required at all public services for Bishop Sansaricq.
Currents News Staff
The Food and Drug Administration has granted Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine full approval.
The vaccine was previously available in the U.S. under emergency use authorization.
This full approval could help ease concerns from those who have been hesitant to get the shot.
Experts say full approval could also open the door to more vaccine mandates. Officials discussed how to prepare for the rollout over the weekend.
The full FDA approval has only been granted for those 16 and older. Those who are 12 through 15 can still get the vaccine under the emergency authorization.
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Currents News Staff
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A recent college graduate is kicking off a brand-new scholarship for moms, promoting the pro-life message.
By Jessica Easthope
Christian Santo is hard to forget. His parents Karen and Bill couldn’t be more proud of him.
“Christian was just one of these people that just wanted to help everyone,” Karen said. “He put himself last all the time.”
When he wasn’t giving haircuts to children with autism, playing baseball or spending time with family, the 27-year-old Xaverian H.S. graduate was finding a way to help someone else.
“I learned more about my son Christian when he passed away than I knew of him when he was alive,” Bill said. “He was all heart, my son.”
On Sept.17, Bill’s birthday last year, when he hadn’t heard from his son, he and Karen drove to his Bay Ridge apartment just a few blocks from their family home. Christian had died of heart failure and in a flash – everything he was became a memory.
“I have no regrets, we had a good life with him,” Karen added. “I cry because I miss him but I really feel he’s in a better place.”
Determined to keep that memory alive, the Santo’s acted fast, raising money for academic and baseball scholarships in Christian’s name at his alma mater St. Thomas Aquinas College and creating a sandbox memorial.
“It’s really a reflection, because that’s what my son would want for you,” Karen said of the small, peaceful space on Shore Road.
Christian’s passing has taught the Santo’s what it really means to have faith.
“When I go, I’m going to see my son because I miss him terribly and that’s where my faith comes in,” Bill said. “I truly believe I will see my son again.”
As the first anniversary of Christian’s passing approaches, the Santo’s are getting ready to give away two full tuition scholarships and they’ll continue to help anyone and everyone in Christian’s name, because that’s what he would have done.
By Currents News Staff
Malika Pegues has a lot of goals, like finishing college and becoming a neuropsychologist. These are goals she’s working towards, all while raising three girls.
“Being a mom while in school, I’m not going to lie, it is very, very complicated,” Malika said, “but it’s very much possible, if you have the right support.”
She has new support from Josephine Rose who founded the Kathleen Mullally Foundation. Named after Josephine’s late aunt, it provides college scholarships to pregnant or parenting students.
Supporting parents is something that’s very important to Josephine. The Catholic is a pro-life advocate and was part of the Queens College chapter of Students for Life of America.
“It’s on us, as Christians and members of the human family, to support that and to make sure that yes you can follow your dream and have a family,” Josephine explained.
The foundation is new, but Josephine has already raised almost $15,000 dollars. Malika got the first $1,000 scholarship.
Of the decision, Josephine said, “She made it so easy to choose her.”
Malika is a Christian, a mother of three, and a veteran. During the pandemic, she moved her family into a domestic abuse survivor shelter.
She’s been through so much but her grades never suffered, her smile never faltered and she still takes the time to helps other. She’s a counselor at New Horizon Counseling Center with NYC Project Hope.
The money she received from the scholarship was given to her during a ceremony at Queens pregnancy support center, the Bridge to Life.
“I am a one income household,” Josephine explained. “I don’t really get any support with raising my daughters, so it really did help me with bill payment.”
Right now, the scholarship is for Queens College students but soon Josephine hopes to take it state-wide and even national.
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Another statue of a saint has been vandalized in the Diocese of Brooklyn – this one was dedicated to the victims of COVID-19.
By Jessica Easthope
Praying in front of their parish, St. Michael’s Church in Flushing, Queens, is the highlight of Lucy Santiago and Lillian Soto’s day. They usually leave happy, but Wednesday, that wasn’t the case.
In the early morning hours, Tuesday, Aug. 17, a man hopped a short fence in front of the church and pushed over this statue of St. Bernadette, breaking her arm.
“They have no business trying to destroy these statues because they’re the ones who support us, these saints in heaven and that’s what we have to depend on now,” Lucy said.
The vandal was caught on camera. The police were called to investigate and tape was put up – a process Father Vincentius Do shuddered to think he’d ever be involved in.
“It’s sad that we have to think of more security. We never thought about these things when we built these churches, everything was out in the open but now we have to protect ourselves,” said Father Do, the new parish administrator.
St. Michael’s joins a long list of churches and schools across the Diocese of Brooklyn that have been vandalized this year. At this spot, St. Bernadette is kneeling in front of the Blessed Mother and surrounding them is a white flag for every parishioner lost to COVID-19.
St. Bernadette is the patron saint of those who are ridiculed for their faith, but the parish doesn’t think this is an attack, but a problem that goes much deeper within the Flushing community.
“I tend to think these people are suffering with some kind of mental issues and that’s why I ask my parishioners to pray for them that they get help because I think they do need help,” said Father Do.
Now St. Michael’s is left to, literally, pick up the pieces. Fr. Do hopes his parishioners will chip in to fix the statue, but he says the pain costs more than the repairs.