Alabama’s State Supreme Court recognizes embryos as human life.
A Haitian bishop is in stable condition after he was caught in an explosion in the country’s capital of Port-Au-Prince this past weekend.
Bishop Robert Brennan joined pilgrims at Immaculate Conception Church in Astoria, where the bishop motivated them to continue in their journey.
It was 72 years ago today that Maryknoll Bishop Francis Xavier Ford died in a communist Chinese prison.
By Jessica Easthope
The regular Sunday night Mass at Christ Redeemer Catholic Church carried extra weight this night for the folks in Sterling, Virginia.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said one parishioner at the church.
The Mass comes two days after one of their own was killed in the line of duty when a house exploded.
“It seemed very important to give them some space where they could be together and we want to try to make it as informal as impossible,” said Father Joel Jaffe.
As first responders sat inside wearing jackets with the words Sterling Volunteer Fire Company written across their backs — the same words fallen firefighter Trevor Brown wore, too — Pastor Jaffe stressed the need for unity at a time of great loss.
“How important it is during times of tragedy that we don’t isolate, that we come together, and that’s exactly what they did,” Father Jaffe said.
“Naturally it’s a tough time for the company and the community,” said Sterling Volunteer Fire Company Chief David Short.
Chief Short said the past two days had been anything but easy.
“Mr. Brown was a great member of the volunteer fire company. I served with him on my crew for quite a while. His loss is a major one for our company and for the community.”
And even in times of devastation, the job must continue.
“I have a lot of folks still on duty, we’re still maintaining fire protection for the folks in Sterling,” Chief Short said, “So we still have a job to do and a lot of my team is still out there doing the job.”
“He saved lives, and it cost him his life,” Father Jaffe said. “They are in our prayers. We are praying for the families of all the fallen firefighters.”
Funeral services for Trevor Brown have yet to be announced.
By Katie Vasquez
The pews at Resurrection Ascension Church in Rego Park are not packed with parishioners.
They’re packed with soon to be Catholics, Elojde Berliku.
“It’s very exciting,” said Elojde Berliku. “Like I’m almost there at the finish line.”
Berliku and hundreds of others have been studying the faith in the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Order of Christian Initiation of Adults, or OCIA program.
Sunday marked an important step in their faith journey.
They participated in the Rite of Election, a time-honored ritual marking the church’s election, or choice of those deemed fit to receive the sacraments at the Easter vigil.
“I’m really looking forward to ending my journey with this,” Berliku said. “And then, like, a new journey begins.”
In two services on Sunday, one for Brooklyn and one for Queens, Bishop Robert Brennan welcomed 447 catechumens – or people who have never been baptized.
“These catchumens help to remind us of that gift. And when you see people who weren’t brought up Catholics, maybe brought up in another faith, or maybe with no faith, but to see them freely embracing the faith, choosing to be Catholic,” Bishop Brennan said. “It does something for us. All of a sudden now we realize, Wow, yeah, this is something really important.”
The group of diverse adults represents the Diocese of Immigrants and as such, vicar for evangelization and catechesis, Father Joseph Gibino, said this year’s Rite of Election reflects that.
“We’re doing something for the first time this year,” Father Gibino said. “One of the readings, the first reading will be done in Chinese because we have now such an international community that many of the newly baptized will be from parts of Asia. So it’s really important to recognize the diversity of our diocese.
One such story is Shu Zhen Song, she was born in China and came to the U.S. as a student.
She’s converting so she can marry in the church and has been studying since September.
“I was so excited because my family doesn’t believe doesn’t have this religion and I have no background,” Song said. “But since I learning, I feel, wow, the Catholic is very a new world to me. And then I feel. So this today’s ceremony, I mean, celebration is new to me. I want to have this experience and want to learn and get that step forward.”
While the Diocese of Brooklyn is happy to see the church grow, Bishop Brennan said this day isn’t about the amount of people preparing to be baptized.
“It’s not about numbers,” Bishop Brennan said. “It’s about people who are encountering Jesus Christ and encountering him to the sacramental life of the church. And to see that that’s happening is a source of great hope for us.”
You can read more about Sunday’s Rite of Election by going online to TheTablet.Org.
If you would like to start your own journey to joining the Catholic faith.
All you have to do is head down to your local parish.
To find a church near you go to DioceseofBrooklyn.Org and click on the “Parish Finder” in the upper right hand corner.
A diverse group of adults in the Diocese of Brooklyn are preparing for a life-changing moment, becoming Catholic.
St. Thomas Aquinas Parish held its annual lock-in this weekend offering a holy hour, Mass, and talks to a group of young people.
Two days after a funeral Mass for a transgender activist, the rector of St. Patrick’s Cathedral has acknowledged that those at the service took part in “scandalous behavior.”
It’s been one year since Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell was shot and killed in his Hacienda Heights home.
Watching daily masses on NET TV will soon be a little different after nearly a decade with the same graphics, DeSales Media Group is revamping the look.
Bishop Robert Brennan celebrated Mass yesterday at St. Charles Borromeo in Brooklyn Heights for the second day of the Lenten Pilgrimage.
The East Flatbush Catholic School brought back their step team, which we’re told not only reinforces their faith, but also provides a history lesson.
Students at Midwood Catholic Academy were celebrating Black History month today.
by Katie Vasquez
These Brooklyn Jesuit Prep students move as one, they’re stepping, a form of percussion dance where they stomp their feet and clap their hands,
All to make a beat of their own.
“When you step for a Catholic school, you’re stepping for a mission. and that’s the heart,” said Brooklyn Jesuit Prep Step Team moderator, Nichole Prime.
Seventh grade teacher Nichole Prime is their coach, guiding the more than 20 girls in their steps.
She says each beat brings them back to their Catholic faith.
“When you hear us chanting the chants that we say, the words that we’re saying, it has the heart and the mission of faith, of perseverance, of prayer,” said Prime.
A prayer that for two decades had been silent.
While the school had a step team at one time, at some point it stopped, until Nichole brought it back this year, giving the Jesuit prep students a boost in self-confidence.
“I used to be shy, but now I’m more outgoing and I’m more open to making new friends,” said Brooklyn Jesuit Prep Step team member, Sonyae Lashley.
“What I mostly like about it is that I can feel like I can feel happier, I can feel free,” said Brooklyn Jesuit Prep Step team member, Jayla Heslop.
The steps are also a lesson in history.
“Step has origins in slave days where they used it to communicate. Really, even in the gold mines, it was called gumboot dancing. They would use the beats and the rhythm to communicate in code and then it developed into expressions of like just joy, expressions of perseverance, of strength,” said Prime.
And in a school where 93 percent of the student population identifies as Black or African American, it is a fact that’s not overlooked.
“I was like really shocked and really happy doing something that represents my culture,” said Brooklyn Jesuit Prep Step Team member, Teaira Carson.
“That was very powerful and empowering for me as a black young individual because I know where steps’ roots are from,” said Brooklyn Jesuit Prep Step Team member, Javonee Nash.
So even when the dances get hard,
“When I started, it was like it was a lot. it was like it was just like you had to be doing a whole bunch of exercises. like i was feeling sore some days,” said Brooklyn Jesuit Prep Step Team member, Darriel Charles.
These steppers move with pride,looking to the future and maybe even one day, competing against other schools.
by Katie Vasquez
Every day, 4 times a day, NET-TV broadcasts masses to homes across Brooklyn and Queens, and an integral part of bringing that celebration to your screen, is the dedicated production team who make it happen.
“For people who are homebound and they’re not able to leave their homes, we definitely would like to bring more of the mass to them,” said DeSales Media Group Production Producer, Marilyn Arreaga.
But for the first time in a decade, that daily mass is going to look different.
Starting on February 20, the graphics broadcasted on the screen telling you about the readings or the responsorial psalms will be brand new.
DeSales Media Group director of programming and production, Dominic Ambrosio, and Production producer Marilyn Arreaga have been working on the new look since the fall.
“We’re coming up a little bit more current in our look and our feel and the colors, specifically trying to stay a little bit neutral because we want to respect the vestments and the colors of seasons,” said Ambrosio.
But the graphics go beyond looks, they’re also functional.
Viewers can scan a universal QR code, and follow along with the mass at home.
“Will take people to the net tv website and from there they can pick either english or spanish readings, and from there it’ll take them to the usccb where they will obtain the readings of psalms, the gospels, um, to follow along in the masses, because it’s just a good thing for them to be participating in the mass more,” said Arreaga.
The project falls in line with the mission of NET-TV’s parent company, DeSales Media Group, to walk along folks in their journey of faith.
While Dominic and Marilyn stress there is no substitute for attending mass in person, they hope it will also physically bring people back to the pews.
“It’s very important just so people can follow the liturgy of the word for that day. so when the priest is speaking regarding his gospel, they can take in the information more and just follow along,” said Arreaga.
“Are we reintroducing the mass to them, those folks who have kind of fallen away from attending mass by live streaming? maybe, I don’t know. but in our small way, we’re trying to make some kind of impact in their lives, and that’s our job,” said Ambrosio.
This is just the beginning, the team is also looking at ways to guide viewers with music and make the experience more tangible.
There’s been a win in the fight against human trafficking.
A bishop-backed bill has passed the House in a landslide vote.
The Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act strengthens and expands anti-trafficking programs.
The bill still has to go before the Senate.
American bishops have been pushing to pass the measure for years.
The National Correspondent for The Tablet and Crux, John Lavenburg, joins Currents News to discuss more about the efforts to fight human trafficking.
By Jessica Easthope
Caught on camera, but not yet caught by police. St. Rita’s Pastor Father Jose Da Silva said on the evening of Friday, Feb. 9, he heard a noise and came to his window to find it broken.
“I asked him what he was doing and he looked at me and he left,” Father Da Silva said. “He stopped by the front of the church for a few minutes then I came down, and I went to the chapel everybody was outside and we saw the window was broken.”
Father Da Silva said he knows the man who did it, not by name, but sees him regularly in the neighborhood.
The Queens priest claims over the years the man has caused disturbances inside the Long Island City church, coming in drunk and with alcohol.
Father Da Silva has been forced to ask him to leave.
“I saw him many, many times walking in the neighborhood, and I saw him in the chapel a few weeks before that when he was in the chapel, he was drunk, he was sleeping,” Father Da Silva said. “Sometimes he was drinking beer in the chapel also and one day I heard a noise, and he opened the door with his foot, and he was screaming at me, but he’s always around, always around that guy.”
The windows that were shattered are part of the church’s original stained glass and nearly 60 years old. Father Da Silva believes they weren’t his intended target.
Before causing damage outside the man entered the chapel where a charismatic prayer group was meeting, he left after only a few seconds.
“We don’t feel safe anymore,” “I believe he was trying to break the statue of the Blessed Mother. I think his intention was also to attack people and damage the chapel.”
Fatherr Da Silva said he fears for his own safety and the safety of his nearly 1,000 parishioners.
“I worry about safety during masses because we have a huge congregation and this area is not safe, it’s not safe for anybody,” Father Da Silva said. “He has mental issues, I’m very sure, but I think something must be done, something more serious. We have a system, cameras and everything but sometimes it feels like nothing is safe.”
Father Da Silva has filed a police report and detectives from the 114th precinct are investigating the incident.
He has not yet heard back from the insurance company but estimates the cost of damage is more than $10,000.
If you or anyone you know recognizes the man from that footage, please call crimestoppers at 1-800- 577- TIPS.
Bishops are praying for the victims of the shooting at the Kansas City Super Bowl Rally.
One person was killed and more than 20 others wounded.
Kansas City Police Chief, Stacey Graves, sayid the shooting appears to be a result of a personal dispute between several people.
Police have taken three people into custody.
Local Kansas bishops responded to the tragedy calling for prayers and unity.
Bishop James Johnston of Kansas City, St. Joseph, Missouri shared a message on facebook, saying:
“On this first day of Lent, we turn to God for mercy and healing for our broken world.”
Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas also encouraging people to turn to their faith,saying:
“Let us now remain united in prayer for healing, both physically and mentally, for the victims, their families, and all who are understandably shaken by the heartbreaking event near union station.”
The person killed was a Catholic mom of two.
Lisa Lopez-Galvan was a beloved dj for a Kansas City Radio Station and an active parishioner at Sacred Heart-Guadalupe Parish.
Her fellow parishioners say she was devoted to the church and her loss was “devastating” to the community.
Lopez-Galvan died in the hospital during surgery after a gunshot wound to her abdomen.