Currents News reports secular and religious news from the Catholic perspective.
Some of the top stories on this newscast:
The President in Kenosha after the police shooting of a black man.
What the NYPD Commissioner is saying about the dramatic rise in gun violence across the city.
Seminarians from across the country head to Rome to complete their studies to become priests.
By Emily Drooby
New York City public schools were originally slated to start a hybrid mix of in-person and online learning on September 10.
But in a newly announced schedule, teachers will instead begin preparing their classrooms on September 10. All students will begin remote learning on September 16 and on September 21, school doors will open for blended in-person learning.
This change could have an impact on parish schools and Catholic academies in the Diocese of Brooklyn.
“There is nothing more precious than taking care of the children of NYC,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio as he announced the changed schedule on September 1.
The New York City public school date change comes amid threats of a possible teachers strike, angry over their pandemic safety demands not being met.
During the press conference, Public Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza said, “We’ve heard from our educators, from our school leaders, everyone in our schools that have said we need some more time.”
The head of the teacher’s union was also on hand at the media event to endorse the new plan.
This change is not so great for the Diocese of Brooklyn. Superintendent of schools Thomas Chadzutko explains that it puts Catholic schools reopening in jeopardy.
“Personally, I felt devastated, not for myself but for the principals, and the boards and teachers who have worked tirelessly over the summer,” he told Currents News.
Chadzutko says a majority of their schools are ready to open with 100% in-person instruction on September 9.
The city provides six services described as non-negotiable to the Diocese of Brooklyn’s reopening plan; security, nurses, transportation services, food services, special education teacher support services and crossing guards.
“We really cannot open without the services,” explained Chadzutko.
It’s not yet clear if those services will be available for their opening. Chadzutko said they’re still moving ahead with their original reopening plans so that they don’t fall behind.
The superintendent’s office is attempting to get answers about the city’s plan for these essential services. They told Currents News they reached out to the city as soon as the announcement was made. They have also been looking into laws to see if there is anything that might help.
Currents News Staff
Maxine Young always knew that she wanted to adopt, but she never expected that her life would turn out quite like this.
“It was chaos,” Maxine said.
In July of 2017, she and her husband Jake got a call to foster four siblings, as part of an emergency placement.
“So we had to pick them up within a few hours,” Maxine said.
Her husband spoke about the time leading up to the moment it all happened.
“Also the preparation, we didn’t have nine months to prepare,” Jake said.
Then just a couple months later, Maxine found out she was pregnant.
“We went from zero to five within less than a year,” she said.
So they took things day by day, never expecting to add any more children to the mix.
But mere weeks after finalizing the adoption in December of 2019, Maxine and Jake were in for the surprise of a lifetime – Maxine was pregnant with quadruplets.
“I didn’t think that I could even get pregnant without doing IVF like I did with my son,” Maxine said. “I remember texting him and I was like, ‘Oh my God.'”
While they were excited, Maxine says, at same time, they were very worried.
“The doctors are worried about you, worried about the babies, worried about our other kids adding four more babies into the mix with a family of five already,” she said.
So ahead of the birth, the couple packed up their kids and headed out to Phoenix, Arizona, where they met with a specialist who deals with multiple births.
It was there that Maxine had the quadruplets at 32 weeks. On the weekend of Aug.29, they flew back on private medical planes to Berks County.
The babies, for now, are in the NICU at Reading Hospital.
“It’s been crazy, but I don’t think it’s hit just yet,” Jake said.
While they prepare to welcome the quadruplets home and begin life as a family of 11, Maxine and Jake say they’re both nervous and excited for the adventure to come.
“Luckily, they’re all doing really well and we’re really grateful,” Maxine said.
Currents News Staff
The Rector-President of Cathedral Prep School and Seminary in Queens, Father James Kuroly, can relate to students who were forced into distance learning. He was also taking classes online.
Fr. Kurloy received a doctorate degree in education from St. Thomas University in Florida and completed all of his classes remotely while holding his position at Cathedral Prep and tending to all his other duties.
He joins Currents News now to discuss the challenges he faced while tackling online education during the pandemic.
By Jessica Easthope
“The five boroughs are held hostage,” said Jimmy O’Reilly, the owner of Yer Man’s Irish Pub in Glendale, Queens.
After 27 years it’s come down to the wire for Jimmy and his bar. Yer Man’s has been closed for nearly six months. The business is now scraping by on a few hundred dollars a week, losing money and customers by the day.
“Nassau County’s open, it’s only a few miles from here, and people are leaving us, we have barely any curbside service anymore, because they can go out east, a few miles away and eat inside,” Jimmy said.
Space restrictions don’t allow for outdoor dining at Yer Man’s.
“To me it’s a liability, it doesn’t pay and it’s a waste of time, if I had a parking lot, fine, but you can’t pay the bills with a few tables outside, for any place,” said Jimmy.
According to Partnership for New York City, when the pandemic is over roughly one-third of the city’s 240,000 small businesses may never open again. Jimmy’s doing everything he can to make sure Yer Man’s isn’t one of them.
Earlier this summer Jimmy redesigned the entire bar for social distancing when his doors reopen, but they never did. He thought of every possible precaution he could take to make it safe for people to return, even installing a hook on the door so that no one would have to touch the handle.
“Is there a way where we can do something safely with indoor dining? So far we have not had that moment,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio August 31.
Jimmy says he can’t win.
“Maybe all I’ve done is in vain, because it’s backward we’re going and they don’t seem like they want us to reopen,” he said.
Jimmy’s spent more than $120,000 from loans just to keep the lights on. If things continue this way, he says he won’t survive for three more months.
“Never in my life thought this would happen, nobody did, it’s every business, every restaurant that’s going through torture and outdoor dining isn’t going to cut it,” Jimmy said.
Even with no end in sight, Jimmy is continuing to raise the bar, making his pub as safe as possible for reopening, hoping Yer Man’s will live to see the day.
Currents News reports secular and religious news from the Catholic perspective.
Some of the top stories on this newscast:
The COVID crisis is turning education upside down, even for future priests.
The Big Apple’s public schools might not open on time as teachers are worried about their safety.
A war of words between President Trump and Portland’s Mayor over who’s guilty of promoting violence in the city.
Currents News Staff
The conventions have concluded, but many are still talking about how the pandemic changed these traditional events.
Philip Alongi has worked in production for some 30 years, and was the executive producer for the RNC in 2012 and 2016. He is also on the Executive Committee of Communications for the USCCB, and has covered the pope.
There has been a lot of discussion about how slickly produced these virtual conventions went, without many hiccups. Philip joins Currents News to give his take on the unconventional conventions.
By Jessica Easthope
Class is in session at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers. This year, due to the pandemic, there are a lot of extra rules and precautions. But when it comes to vocations, it’s back to basics.
“It’s been a time of challenge and a time to get back to basics for them, prayer, dedicated to the common life and renewing friendship and fraternity, supporting each other,” said Father Michael Bruno, the Dean of Seminarians.
Fr. Bruno’s priorities are usually faith, classwork and everything else. This year, safety is added to the list.
“All of the common areas went through a deep clean, in the common areas everyone is wearing a mask and we have several options for remote learning,” Father Bruno said.
Father Bruno says the seminarians are diving headfirst into their formation. For Callistus Ibeh, the months leading up to his first year in a major seminary have given him a closer look into what it’s like to be a priest.
“Being able to work with the people in whatever challenge they’re going through like this pandemic, it was really tough but as a leader, a priest you need to have a strong spirit,” Callistus said.
Unlike Callistus, the first day of school jitters are long gone for Joseph Hadzovic, a third-year-Theologian. He says the pandemic has been a lesson learned. It made him examine his relationship with God and his vocation more closely.
“If it’s for the glory, if it’s for people praising me, no one could praise me during COVID-19,” he explained. “I couldn’t see anybody, so you really have to ask yourself why am I doing this?”Joseph said.
For the seminarians, being back at school means being back in the community they love.
“They realize the importance of community, studying in an environment where they’re supported by fellow students, their teachers are in person, I think there’s a real desire to be together in the learning process,” said Bishop James Massa, the Rector at St. Joseph’s Seminary.
For the seminarians, the pandemic has renewed their priorities and their faith. God, prayer and community, matter most.
Currents News Staff
Warning: this piece contains graphic video that some viewers may find disturbing.
Oregon Governor Kate Brown is putting out a plan to try and bring calm to the city of Portland.
It follows months of protests against police brutality and a deadly shooting over the weekend as pro-Trump supporters rode into the city and clashed with demonstrators.
Portland’s mayor Ted Wheeler took aim at President Trump Sunday, August 30 following a shooting death in Portland Saturday night after a caravan of Trump supporters rolled through the city, clashing with anti-police brutality protesters.
“You’ve tried to divide us more than any other figure in modern history” Wheeler said of Trump. “And now you want me to stop the violence you helped create.”
Trump responded by lashing out at the mayor on Twitter, calling Wheeler a fool, among other things.
Saturday night’s shooting was caught on video.
A witness said the victim “sprayed mace and launched it right into the other guy.”
Currents News has not confirmed if the victim is the person who sprayed the mace.
According to New York Times reporter Mike Baker, the man killed was wearing a hat with the insignia of Patriot Prayer, a far-right wing group that has clashed with protesters before.
Trump tweeted “rest in peace” about the shooting victim, while again criticizing Mayor Wheeler.
Wheeler said Trump inspired the conflict in the city.
“Hundreds of cars filled with supporters of the president rallying in Clackamas County and then driving through downtown Portland,” he explained, “they were supported and energized by the president himself.”
Saturday’s shooting came just days after a Trump supporter from Illinois traveled to Kenosha, Wisconsin and allegedly killed two people during protests there.
Currents News Staff
A sense of joy greeted Pope Francis as he looked out from a window of the Apostolic Palace to pray the Angelus with pilgrims, who have slowly been returning to Rome.
He explained that the life of a Christian is always a fight against evil. He gave the example of St. Peter, who was tempted even after Jesus promised to make him the foundation of the Church.
“It happens to all of us! In moments of devotion, fervor, good will, of nearness to our neighbor, we look to Jesus and continue on, but in moments where we encounter the cross, we run away,” he said. “The devil, Satan, as Jesus says to Peter, tempts us.”
In front of current difficulties, Pope Francis encouraged pilgrims to understand the language of the cross. He said Jesus considers running away from it a stumbling block.
“Considering this, we allow the cross hanging on the wall at home, or that small one we wear around our neck, to be a sign of our desire to be united with Christ in serving, with love, our brothers and sisters, especially the smallest and most fragile,” he said
After the Angelus, the pontiff called for dialogue and respect for the rule of law. This was in light of tensions between Greece and Turkey over maritime rights and claims to gas reserves.
He lamented the environmental disaster on the Island of Mauritius, caused by an oil spill that has put the ecosystem in danger.
He also said that the “Jubilee for the Earth” will be celebrated from Sept. 1 to Oct. 4. It will begin with the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.