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Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Academy in Corona, Queens to Reopen With Caution During Pandemic

By Jessica Easthope

The new school year is around the corner. For faculty, staff and students at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Academy in Corona, Queens, the odds of reopening and staying open are stacked against them.

“We got hit really, really hard,” said Dr. Cristina Tancredi-Cruz the school’s principal. “We’ve been talking about this and dealing with it. but when you look at the numbers, we got hit really hard.”

Dr. Cruz says Our Lady of Sorrows will open on September 10 using a hybrid model, about half of the students will be in school, the rest will learn online.

“If God forbid we think it’s not working, we’re shutting down and figuring this out because we’re really taking this seriously and the kids’ safety is number one,” said Dr. Cruz.

The Catholic Academy is 99 percent Hispanic. The ethnic group that has suffered more cases and deaths than any other in New York City. In the city’s public schools, 304,880 students will be learning virtually this year, Hispanics make up most of them at 37 percent.

“There was a point where every single day someone was dying and it hit us really hard,” Dr. Cruz said.

The school sits in the heart of Corona, Queens, the one-time epicenter of the pandemic. With a death toll reaching nearly 450 in the area, the virus’ effects on the neighborhood have been catastrophic.

“It has had the effect of an atomic bomb, it’s been horrendous,” said Father Manuel de Jesus Rodriguez, the new pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows Church.

In the few short months at his new post, he’s seen the devastation first-hand. More than 100 families across the parish and school lost loved ones to the virus, the job loss is even higher.

“We have a growing number of members of this community who have lost their jobs, we have had a lot of hunger, here in Corona the effects of this virus have been horrendous so we are fighting to help the people,” said Fr. Manuel.

Enrollment is down this year, but Dr. Cruz knows her school community is resilient.

“Many families have left, they have literally left the state of New York,” she explained. “We were on a great path, and COVID kind of knocked us off. But we’ll get back, we’re going to make it. You’ll see, mark my words.”

Currents News full broadcast for Fri, 8/21/20 (Catholic news)

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

Some of the top stories on this newscast:

We’re taking an exclusive look into the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Catholic schools. They’re being scrubbed and sanitized.

A device that can be used anywhere to stop the spread of COVID-19.

The Democrats have wrapped up their convention, and now it’s the Republicans turn.

Currents News full broadcast for Thurs, 8/20/20 (Catholic news)

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

Some of the top stories on this newscast:

Iraq’s leader is pleading with Christians to come home. Today he’s at the White House.

The Democrats are applauding their ticket. But are they leaving the issues behind?

Emergency workers on the frontlines in the Big Apple could soon lose their jobs.

With a Possible Rise in Divorce Amid Pandemic, Couples Are Being Encouraged to Turn to Their Faith

By Jessica Easthope

Couples have been forced to quarantine together for months. At first it was expected it might cause a baby boom, but now couples are experiencing the flip side: a spike in divorces.

“Because they are together in the same place for an extended period of time, a lot of issues have come to the surface and have caused a strain into the married life,” said Christian Rada, the Director of Marriage, Family Life and Respect Life Education for the Brooklyn Diocese.

Couples in the Brooklyn Diocese who want to work on their troubled marriages come to Christian. He says he usually hears from eight couples a year, in the first six months of 2020, he had already worked with 15. He says the common thread connecting all of them is lack of communication.

“Because they’re not able to talk to each other, other issues come about. So the root, I believe, from the calls I’ve received is there’s a great lack of communication,” he said.

Though there has been an increase in internet searches for divorce, there’s no hard date suggesting a surge is ahead. That could be due to court closures.

“People have to secure the civil divorce before they apply to us, so we won’t see the effects immediately. Maybe by the end of the year or next year,” explained Father Francis Asagba, the Judicial Vicar for the Office of the Tribunal for the Brooklyn Diocese.

Fr. Francis deals with all of the annulment petitions that come into the office. During the pandemic, there have been four. Fr. Francis says that number isn’t alarming, but now is the time for the church to take advantage of possible court delays and help couples in need.

“We have programs to sustain them so there are resources out there, but the Church can always do more. The parishes can maybe do more to offer formation programs for those already married,” said Fr. Francis.

Christian says the good news for Catholic couples who are considering a divorce is that faith can be part of the solution.

“There’s also sometimes a lack of a spiritual life and I ask them, ‘Do you pray together? Do you pray for each other? And most of the time it’s ‘We don’t pray together,’ so that’s another thing that I revisit with couples I talk to,” he explained.

In the coming months the Brooklyn Diocese will be starting a Divorce Bereavement Ministry to help people cope with the loss of a marriage.

Iraqi Prime Minister Urges Christians to Return, But Aid to the Church in Need Says It Won’t Be Easy

By Emily Drooby

It has been six years since Islamic State terrorists violently forced Christians out of Iraq.

Now that ISIS has been beaten back, the country’s Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi is strongly urging Iraqi Christians to come back home, and his hopes are high.

We are glad that Christians will return to Iraq and contribute to its reconstruction,” he told the Assyrian International News Agency. “Iraqis of all sects are yearning for a new Iraq that believes in peace and rejects violence.”

The Catholic humanitarian organization Aid to the Church in Need is at the forefront of helping Iraqi Christians. They offer support in many ways, including providing on the ground aid and rebuilding churches, schools and parish centers.

“The cities of say, Mosul and Bagdad…they have been decimated. You can count the amount of families on one hand or two hands,” said Ed Clancy, their director of outreach and evangelization.

Clancy said it’s tragic, because the Church in Iraq was evangelized by St. Mark, the companion of the first pope.

Since 2003, Iraq’s Christian community has plummeted from 1.5 million at the time to less than 120,000 now.

Many fled for their lives in the summer of 2014, when ISIS conquered Mosul and the Nineveh Plains, destroying everything in their path. Often people fled with only the clothes on their backs.

Those who have returned face many problems. Iraq’s prime minister is vowing to help, but that promise alone might not be enough.

“The agreement the government said, ‘You move back first and then we will fix things. You know, we will put in the roads, we will put in the police, we will put in the security,'” Clancy explained. “But that’s not the way it should work. You don’t move into a building as a business and say, ‘Okay we won’t have electricity, we won’t have security, we won’t have windows, but we will start a business.'”

Christians who are there are facing big challenges in getting goods to market and staying in business, especially in certain industries like scrap medal.

“These are ways of crowding them out or pushing them out that makes it extra difficult,” said Clancy.

He believes Christians will return to Iraq, just not right away

“It will happen if there is a term of success, if there is three to five years, it will slowly grow, but right now it’s just important to keep those people there and to get as many people back as will come,” he said.

Taking a Closer Look at Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s Health and Future as Retired Pontiff

Currents News Staff

Earlier in August, there was concern about the health of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, but the Vatican said while the 93-year-old was ill, his condition wasn’t serious.

It seemed he fell ill after visiting his sick brother who then passed. What kind of impact did that have on the retired pope, and are we getting the full story from the Vatican?

Joining Currents News to talk more about the retired pontiff’s health is John Allen, the editor of Crux.

Iraqi Prime Minister Urges Christians to Return, But Aid to the Church in Need Says It Won’t Be Easy

By Emily Drooby

It has been six years since Islamic State terrorists violently forced Christians out of Iraq.

Now that ISIS has been beaten back, the country’s Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi is strongly urging Iraqi Christians to come back home, and his hopes are high.

We are glad that Christians will return to Iraq and contribute to its reconstruction,” he told the Assyrian International News Agency. “Iraqis of all sects are yearning for a new Iraq that believes in peace and rejects violence.”

The Catholic humanitarian organization Aid to the Church in Need is at the forefront of helping Iraqi Christians. They offer support in many ways, including providing on the ground aid and rebuilding churches, schools and parish centers.

“The cities of say, Mosul and Bagdad…they have been decimated. You can count the amount of families on one hand or two hands,” said Ed Clancy, their director of outreach and evangelization.

Clancy said it’s tragic, because the Church in Iraq was evangelized by St. Mark, the companion of the first pope.

Since 2003, Iraq’s Christian community has plummeted from 1.5 million at the time to less than 120,000 now.

Many fled for their lives in the summer of 2014, when ISIS conquered Mosul and the Nineveh Plains, destroying everything in their path. Often people fled with only the clothes on their backs.

Those who have returned face many problems. Iraq’s prime minister is vowing to help, but that promise alone might not be enough.

“The agreement the government said, ‘You move back first and then we will fix things. You know, we will put in the roads, we will put in the police, we will put in the security,'” Clancy explained. “But that’s not the way it should work. You don’t move into a building as a business and say, ‘Okay we won’t have electricity, we won’t have security, we won’t have windows, but we will start a business.'”

Christians who are there are facing big challenges in getting goods to market and staying in business, especially in certain industries like scrap medal.

“These are ways of crowding them out or pushing them out that makes it extra difficult,” said Clancy.

He believes Christians will return to Iraq, just not right away

“It will happen if there is a term of success, if there is three to five years, it will slowly grow, but right now it’s just important to keep those people there and to get as many people back as will come,” he said.

Pilgrimages

Joe Estevez interviews Will Peterson who discusses his Modern Catholic pilgrim project, where pilgrims get to experience hospitality from host families during religious journeys. Joe and Will talk about the importance of the laity living out their faith to build stronger Catholic communities.

The Catholic History Behind Rome’s Famed Spanish Steps

By Melissa Butz

Piazza di Spagna is named in honor of the Spanish Embassy to the Holy See. This tourist hotspot is known for its characteristic Spanish Steps, but it also holds a deeply religious meaning.

Every year on December 8 the Holy Father goes to Piazza di Spagna, to pay homage to Our Lady on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. He places a bouquet of flowers at the base of the statue, while the head of the fire department places a wreath of flowers on her arm, since they have the tallest ladder in the city.

Roman expert Kiron Rathnam says this tradition began in 1857 when Pope Pius IX had the column installed in the square. It was to remind tourists of their Catholic faith, after many stopped visiting the basilicas and turned their attention to more secular aspects of the Eternal City.

“Here you had a reminder of what was really important in life and here was a woman who had not sinned at all,” Kiron explained. “Behind there, there’s the building of the Propoganda Fede. That was deliberately also built there because that building was to train priests to become missionaries in different parts of the world.”

But the square’s main attraction is still the famed 135 Spanish Steps. They were built by an Italian architect, and paid for largely by the French and the Vatican. The stairs link Piazza di Spagna to the French church at the top, consecrated by Pope Sixtus V in 1585.

“The idea of building the Spanish Steps to connect the Trinita di Monti, the church, to the piazza at the bottom, came up from Cardinal Mazarin, who worked under two great French kings,” Kiron said. “One of them was Leo XIV, the Sun King, but it only came to fruition 100 years later.”

It was Pope Clement XI who eventually carried out the project at the beginning of the 1700s, around 100 years after “Fountain of the Ugly Boat” was placed the in the square by yet another pope.

“On the fountain, you can definitely see bees, which represent the Barberini family, where Urban VIII comes from,” she added. “He’s the one who commissioned the fountain.” 

Rumor has it Pope Urban VIII designed the boat “submerged in water” in memory of the flood in the Tiber River in 1598. The truth is the water pressure connecting the aqueduct to the fountain is simply not strong enough for it to be built any higher.

All of Rome’s squares were commissioned in part by various popes. This square includes requests or actions by at least six popes, which make up the piazza we know and love today.

Vice Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris to Deliver Historic Speech During DNC

Currents News Staff

It’s set to be a historic night three of the Democratic National Convention.

Senator Kamala Harris will give her speech as the first woman of color to be a vice presidential nominee.

“The Biden/Harris ticket is about an agenda, that is about representing who america really is,” Senator Harris said.

Aug. 19 is jam-packed with appearances by heavy-hitters, and fellow politicians who know what it’s like to “be the first” including Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, and the first woman to be a major party nominee for president in 2016.

“I want to add my voice to the many that have endorsed you to be our president,” Hillary said, “and of course, former President Barack Obama, the country’s first Black president, who chose Joe Biden as his own vice president 12 years ago.”

Barack Obama went on to say,”Joe Biden won’t only make a good vice president..he’ll make a great vice president.”

He’ll make the case that his former running mate and Harris are the ones to move America forward.

“This is going to an administration, the Biden/ Harris Administration that is focused on the future of our country,” Kamala said. “Motivated by what can be, and unburdened by what has been.”