Currents News reports secular and religious news from the Catholic perspective.
Some of the top stories on this newscast:
The dig for survivors continues this weekend in Beirut, and so does the search for answers.
A cathedral in Nicaragua is in ruins after it was firebombed.
Social media usually shows our best days, but for one Catholic teen, she lets it see her worst.
By Melissa Butz
Piazza del Popolo — the “People’s Square,” one of Rome’s biggest urban plazas. It’s now known for hosting concerts and political gatherings. But from the Middle Ages on, this square was the very first place Christian pilgrims saw as they entered the gates of Rome.
It was through this grand doorway that the early Christians fulfilled their dream of coming to the Eternal City. One of its most famous pilgrims was Queen Christina of Sweden, a seventeenth century royal who created a scandal when she abdicated her throne and converted to Catholicism.
To prepare for her visit, Roman expert and tour guide Livia Galante explains, the arch was completely redone by Pope Alexander VII, who baptized Queen Christina into the Catholic faith.
“This was a big victory for the papacy,” said Livia. “She was welcomed with all the possible honors and Gian Lorenzo Bernini was requested to refurbish the arch in order to welcome the queen in the most grand style.”
Upon their arrival, early pilgrims like Queen Christina stopped at the church of Santa Maria del Popolo. Built by Pope Pasqual II in 1099, and expanded by Pope Sixtus IV in the fifteenth century, it’s where believers thanked the Blessed Mother for their safe travels.
“The most venerated image of Our Lady is above the main altar,” said Livia. “It’s one of the most venerated icons of Rome, the ‘Madonna del Popolo.’ It is this image the pilgrims revered after their pilgrimage. After they arrived in the Eternal City on the footsteps of the saints and the martyrs.”
Once in the square, the obelisk now stands as the centerpiece. It was transferred from Circus Maximus in 1589.
“From there, a pope named Sixtus V moved the obelisk to decorate the square that welcomed the pilgrims,” said Livia.
This towering pillar witnessed the persecution of Christians in Circus Maximus, to only later embrace the city’s newcomers, who were exhausted from their journey to the Eternal City.
Throughout the centuries, Piazza del Popolo has seen new additions and dramatic changes, but the sole element that has remained untouched since the 15th century is its namesake, the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo, the original welcoming site for Christian pilgrims.
Currents News reports secular and religious news from the Catholic perspective.
Some of the top stories on this newscast:
The people of Beirut are demanding answers on why their city blew up.
The fierce storm that whipped the city is forcing a local church to call out for help.
The COVID crisis is hitting everyone in the wallet – especially at the grocery store.
By Emily Drooby and Franca Braatz
COVID-19 has wrecked lives and devastated the economy, but it has also given birth to some amazing innovations, a cleaner environment and a more family-friendly work-life balance.
In the medical field, therapeutics and ongoing advances in testing have slashed the death rate from just months ago. The pandemic has even forced a re-imagining of the routine doctor’s visit.
“We are going to take lessons from this pandemic and use them to create new health care going forward,” explained Dr. Hallie Zwibel, the Medical Director of the Academic Health Care Center at New York Institute of Technology.
Part of that forward momentum is the growth of telemedicine, where doctors can see patients remotely using HIPAA compliant video conferencing tools.
“What led to the adoption was not only that necessity is the mother of invention in that we needed to do, this but there is a lot of regulatory changes between the government and different health departments which allowed us to really move on telehealth full steam ahead,” Dr. Zwibel told Currents News.
She says telemedicine forces doctors to be more creative when face-to-face office visits are impossible.
That kind of innovative technology has some businesses booming, especially as tech companies step in to tailor to the needs of a work-from-home workforce.
“We have seen companies utilize technologies that for many years have been ‘nice to haves’ and have now become ‘must haves,’” explained Craig Wilson, the managing director at NYU Tandon Future Labs.
Like telemedicine, remote communication platforms are changing the way we work and socialize. Wilson thinks it’s here to stay.
“Zoom has basically become a verb in the way that Google has become a verb, or Uber has become a verb,” he explained.
Technology has even kept the faithful connected to their parishes, as churches around the diocese continue to stream church services and utilize the power of social media.
Even donating to the weekly collection plate can be done remotely. While money is tight for many, you might be able to save on rent by buying a new home or refinancing an existing mortgage because interest rates have plummeted.
If you have a little extra money, financial experts say now is the time to invest.
“If there’s an area of interest that you’re looking at… homes, stocks, bonds, whatever, go for it…don’t be afraid,” said Larrea. “This is not the time to be timid. And just go after what you’re interested in and go pursue your passions.”
Other leaps forward are more nuanced, like the lessons learned from weaknesses in our global supply chain, or fixing the flaws in our government’s preparedness plans. These are key improvements that will help avert another potential disaster.
By Jessica Easthope
A priest was celebrating Mass alone inside Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Ridgewood, Queens when he witnessed an explosion of glass as the powerful winds brought in by Tropical Storm Isaias blew out a 12-foot stained glass window.
The window, which is nearly a century old, flew from its frame and crashed onto the pews, damaging eight of them. Shards of glass were left scattered across the sanctuary.
“The storm was raging, the winds were so, so strong,” said Father Anthony Sansone, the pastor of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal.
Father Anthony says he was horrified by the damage left behind by the storm, he estimated the repairs will cost around $80,000.
“We have to try to restore this window, we have to fix what was destroyed inside the church in terms of benches and repainting the church where there was damage on the walls where the rain came in,” Fr. Anthony said.
He’s confident the community will show up for the church like it’s always done. Parishioners helped pay for a $150,000 renovation to the church completed in 2018. Now, as they’re finally returning to Mass, they say the damage is another test to their faith.
“This is our place, this is where we come to just say a prayer and for mass and it’s important for us to be here and that we can be here,” said Anna Krasowski, a parishioner of the church.
“That’s the neighborhood that we’re in, those are the people who come to this church, it’s a matter of everyone wanting to support what their home is,” said Rosanne, another parishioner.
Fr. Anthony says his parishioners’ financial support has helped sustain the church.
“I am confident this will be done and I’m so happy to know there are so many people who are so concerned, the parishioners are very supportive and the response from the community is very positive,” Father Anthony said.
Though the now predominantly Polish and Italian neighborhood has changed over the years, what remains is faith and the people’s love for their church.
“This is who we are, when it comes down to your faith, you come up to it, this is all we have,” said Roseann.
Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal was forced to close for a few days after the storm, but opened Thursday night to celebrate Mass for the Feast Day of the Transfiguration of the Lord.
To help Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal replace the window and repair the damages done by the storm, you can donate on GiveCentral at givecentral.org/olmmqueens
Joe Estevez interviews Dr. Lawrence Tritel, author of the book, The Many Faces of War, about the trauma and survival of war, as well as going on with life post-war. Dr. Tritel touches on his own family connection to war and how the Catholic faith has been shaped by war.
Currents News Staff
Less than 24 hours after the massive explosion went off in Beirut at 6 p.m. on the evening of Aug. 4, the city is a scene of destruction.
In fact, the government has declared Beirut as a disaster zone. According to the health ministry, at least 100 people were killed, more than 4,000 wounded and several hundred thousand people have been made homeless as a result of the explosion.
The extent of the destruction in the area not far from Beirut port is evident: almost every window was shattered. Cars have been damaged. The police have been going around trying to make a record of all the destruction that has taken place.
The government has allocated millions of dollars to try to rebuild this city. But the problem Lebanon has is that the government is bankrupt. The economy is in free fall and Lebanon’s traditional donors have essentially abandoned it. It has come down to ordinary people doing what they can to help clean up the mess. Volunteers have been going around handing out water and sandwiches.
The president of Lebanon has said that a transparent investigation will be conducted into what happened on Tuesday evening about that explosion. But at this point, many people are so angry with the government that has for decades mismanaged the country.
There’s little faith that that investigation will come up with real answers to what happened in Beirut.
By Jessica Easthope
Lebanese Americans in Brooklyn feel like a devastating blast was the final straw for such a beautiful country already in the midst of an economic downfall and refugee crisis. Maronite Catholics say the explosion is the latest in a long line of betrayals by the government.
“There were letters from people in charge to the government, let’s do something about these explosive materials, do something and no one was able to do anything,” said Father Dominique Hanna, the Director of Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Cathedral in Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn.
On August 4, the explosion in the country’s capital killed at least 100 people and injured thousands more. Though they were miles from the blast, in the Beirut suburbs, Fr. Hanna’s sister and her two children had to run for their lives.
“My niece was saying mom ran and she took us into the corridor to take shelter but uncle you had to see it was a big mushroom shape and there was smoke and it was red and yellow and we were very scared,” said Fr. Hanna.
Father Hanna offered his morning Mass August 5 for the victims of the explosion and the people of Lebanon.
“Our hometown is almost 25 miles north of the city, 4,000 feet above sea level and glass shattered there, that’s how bad it was, it’s devastating,” said Joseph Elkallassy, a parishioner at Our Lady of Lebanon.
Devastated by the scenes of his country, Joseph took off from work, Wednesday, to attend mMass with his family. He says even those who didn’t experience loss of life are now losing hope.
“Between the coronavirus, plus there is a very bad economic situation there and it’s adding insult to injury,” Joseph said.
The timing of the blast is devastating: Lebanon is struggling to contain the COVID-19 outbreak and is the midst of an unprecedented economic crisis. Currently, 45 percent of the country lives below the poverty line. Tuesday’s blast has left more than 300,000 people homeless, creating a new financial burden for the country.
Bishop Gregory Mansour of the Eparchy of St. Maron of Brooklyn says Lebanon will be reliant on the help of others.
“The only way that they can survive is for the wealthy to open their hearts, the wealthy in the country and the wealthy in the diaspora to once again assist the poor,” said Bishop Mansour.
But Bishop Mansour says he has no doubt this horrific event will bring out the best in the Lebanese people.
“They’re all helping their families and now they’ll be helping different institutions, that’s the beauty of Lebanon,” said Bishop Mansour.
A prayer service and collection for Lebanon and the victims of the Beirut explosion will be held on Tuesday, August 25 at 7 p.m. at Our Lady of Lebanon in Brooklyn Heights.
Currents News reports secular and religious news from the Catholic perspective.
Some of the top stories on this newscast:
With rubble everywhere, and a search for survivors, Beirut struggles to dig out after a massive explosion.
We have reaction tonight from Maronites in Brooklyn, keeping Lebanon in their prayers.
The east coast storm that brought the strongest winds since Superstorm Sandy has some New Yorkers still left in the dark.
By Emily Drooby
Tropical storm Isaias created chaos as it blew through the tri-state area, with winds so strong that it ripped branches from trees. On the Upper East Side, trees damaged cars and filled the streets. Down near Union Square, debris filled the sidewalks.
The powerful storm claimed the life of a 60-year-old man in Briarwood, Queens. He was killed when a tree fell on his van, crushing it with him inside.
The strong winds even caused a Brooklyn building to collapse.
Many trees fell outside churches in the Diocese of Brooklyn, although none of the parishes were damaged; including, St. Brigid’s in Bushwick, Queen of Peace Church in Kew Gardens, Queens and Saint Mary’s in Woodside, Queens.
Out in New Jersey, a roof was peeled right off an Ocean City home, while nearby a tornado touched down.
Almost 2.5 million people lost power in the tri-state. As of early Wednesday evening, over 700,000 people were still in the dark. The power utilities throughout the tri-state area are working overtime to repair the outages.