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Poor Clare Missionary Sisters

The unique story of the Poor Clare Missionary Sisters of Selmar California, an order founded after an apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Joe Estevez interviews some of the nuns and young missionaries about their history and also the important work that they do for the local community.

Personal Parish to Serve the Black Catholic Community Designated in Diocese of Pittsburgh

By Emily Drooby

A personal parish for black Catholics.

Of the idea, Bishop David Zubik of the Diocese of Pittsburgh said, “Black Catholics have particular prayer needs, spiritual needs.”

It’s a church anyone, no matter where they live, can join. A trailblazing idea out of the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

It was born from a listening session held earlier in the year. The Diocese says the change is especially meaningful now, as hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets with demands to stamp out the sin of racism, social unrest from coast to coast in the wake of the deaths of George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks and others.

Bishop Zubik said, “It’s a critical time, I hope that this is a time that we all get it. That we really do have to root out racism which is a sin. And I’m not sure that we have come in a past to a point of being able to emphasis with our Black sisters and brothers.”

For the parish, the Diocese choose St. Benedict the Moor Church, for 130 years the church has had a rich history of ministering to Black Catholics.

“If you’ve ever had a chance to go to St. Benedicts to celebrate the Mass, it’s full of life and sometimes Masses can go on for quite some time. But it’s expressive of the Black culture,” said Bishop Zubik.

It also sits next to Freedom Corner, a civil rights landmark.

Bishop Zubik said, “It stands on the hill that overlooks the city that has to be a constant reminder to us of how important black Catholics are for us as a church.”

The church is named for Benedict the Moor, a 16th century saint born to African slave parents. He became a Franciscan Friar.

Bishop David Zubik will celebrate Mass at the church on July 12th and it will officially become the personal parish for Black Catholics the next day.

Currents News full broadcast for Wed, 6/24/20 (Catholic news)

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

Some of the top stories on this newscast:

The COVID crisis is not letting up.  A Queens family is getting hit hard twice – and across borders. The outbreak is surging again throughout the United States.  New details about possible rollbacks and a New York area quarantine.

The Big Apple’s city workers are facing layoffs by the thousands.  The outbreak is crippling the economy.

A parish devoted to the needs of Black Catholics is being set up in the Diocese of Pittsburgh. The Bishop is saying Mass celebrated there is special.

Election 2020 – primaries in New York, the race for the White House and more.  Political analyst Brian Browne of St. John’s University looks ahead.

Currents News full broadcast for Wed, 6/24/20 (Catholic news)

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

Some of the top stories on this newscast:

The COVID crisis is not letting up. A Queens family is getting hit hard twice – and across borders. The outbreak is surging again throughout the United States. New details about possible rollbacks and a New York area quarantine.

The Big Apple’s city workers are facing layoffs by the thousands. The outbreak is crippling the economy.

A parish devoted to the needs of Black Catholics is being set up in the Diocese of Pittsburgh. The Bishop is saying Mass celebrated there is special.

Election 2020 – primaries in New York, the race for the White House and more. Political analyst Brian Browne of St. John’s University looks ahead.”

Coronavirus Cases On the Rise In 26 States

Currents News Staff

New weekly cases are on the rise in at least 26 states, including California recording 5,000 new cases – its highest daily count since the start of the pandemic.

“We are now seeing a disturbing surge of infections. The next couple of weeks are going to be critical in our ability to address those surges we’re seeing,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

In Texas, one of the first states to begin reopening, Governor Greg Abbott now says its possible restrictions will be back, adding “Because the spread is so rampant right now, there is never a reason for you to have to leave your home unless you do need to go out. The safest place for you is at your home.”

There’s no statewide mandate for wearing masks in Texas, nor is there in Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis is still resisting issuing one.

“I think you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. When you attach criminal penalties for something you’ve got to enforce it and the question is in some of the parts of Florida is that really a good use of resources,” said DeSantis.

Top health officials testified before a House Committee about the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus.

“We’ve all done the best that we can do to tackle this virus. And the reality is it brought this nation to its knees,” said Dr. Robert Redfield, CDC Director.

On the question of a possible vaccine, Dr. Anthony Fauci said “I still think there is a reasonably good chance that by the very beginning of 2021 that, if we’re going to have a vaccine, that we will have it by then.”

Peruvian Families in the Brooklyn Diocese Desperate to Help Their Relatives Back Home

By Jessica Easthope

COVID-19 is taking over in Latin America, hitting Chile, Mexico, Brazil and Peru the hardest. In the Brooklyn Diocese, Peruvian families who have experienced the worst of the pandemic are now desperate to help their relatives back home.

“The virus really affected my household, we were isolated for two months and I wasn’t able to see my children and I was having a lot of medical issues,” said Rosa Pajares a parishioner at Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Jamaica, Queens.

Rosa and her husband Juan Avila feel helpless. Rosa’s mother and two sister are back in Peru. COVID-19 is ravaging her hometown and there’s a severe shortage of oxygen.

“The need for oxygen is really high but people don’t have money so there’s not a lot of places you can get it,” Rosa said.

Peru’s oxygen shortage is igniting a healthcare crisis. People are forced to buy the life-saving canisters at exorbitant markups, some are even turning to the black market.

“People are taking advantage, reselling the oxygen at a high price and not a lot of people can get it and people are dying,” said Rosa.

Peru has reported more than 183,000 cases of COVID-19 and more than 5,000 people have died from the virus.

Rosa has already suffered a tremendous loss, her brother who was living here in the United States was killed by COVID-19.

“This affected my family so much, we needed financial help from friends and we were not able to have a dignified funeral for my brother,” Rosa said.

Through her faith, Rosa says she has forgiven those taking advantage of her home country’s most vulnerable.

“The people reselling the oxygen I pray to God to help these people and to help me not judge them,” Rosa said. “I ask God to help me love them and for them to change their hearts.”

Currents News full broadcast for Tue, 6/23/20 (Catholic news)

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

Some of the top stories on this newscast:

A New York City crackdown is coming just in time for the warriors who’ve kept America safe.

Rayshard Brooks is laid to rest at the Atlanta Church where Martin Luther King was pastor.

An attack on a monument to a past President has the current one hopping mad.

New Yorkers can now go back to work but many aren’t, including one woman who has no plans to leave her home.  She’s taken a vow.

How America’s Response to Racism is Changing Foreign Relations

Currents News Staff

Demands to stamp out the sin of racism are growing louder in the U.S. as social unrest expands from coast to coast in the wake of the deaths of Rayshard Brooks, George Floyd and others.

Professor Travis Adkins of Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service offers his intel on the type of impact racial injustice in America has on its dealings with countries around the world.

What This Vietnam Veteran Has to Say About Illegal Fireworks

By Jessica Easthope

Bill Miller says his walks along Shore Road haven’t been the same lately. 

“I don’t always jump, generally I say about 80 percent of the time I do but I always look and I’m always looking to see where it came from,” said Bill, a combat veteran who served for 18 years. 

Bill isn’t describing his time in Vietnam — he’s describing what it’s like when he hears fireworks. 

“If I’m there and I can see what’s going on, for lack of a better expression, I’m in control. But say I’m going for a walk down Shore Road at night and fireworks are going off down a side street somewhere. It’s very unnerving,” he explained. 

Bill and other combat veterans have felt that unnerving feeling most nights this June. 

In Brooklyn alone, more than 4,500 complaints have been made to 311 this month. That’s 80 times the number of calls received by the city in the first six months of 2019. In addition, there have been more than 125 shooting incidents in June, numbers not seen in more than two decades. 

For Bill, he says the fireworks are different because they can happen anywhere. While many associate the loud and colorful displays with celebration, for combat veterans the sound and smells fireworks leave behind can trigger flashbacks associated with post-traumatic stress disorder. 

“When you slept and all of a sudden there was a rocket attack, that’s what the fireworks are like, and you always ran for cover, so that instinct stays with you,” said Bill.. 

He says for other combat veterans, the sound of fireworks can be mentally and physically exhausting.  

“To run at heightened survival levels like that all the time is very hard on a person, mentally and physically, because your muscles are always tightened and you’re ready to do something,” he added.

There might be an end in sight for veterans like Bill, with a June 23 announcement by Mayor de Blasio on a major crackdown on illegal fireworks and the formation of a task force involving the Sheriff’s Office, NYPD and FDNY.