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ACCEPT
In a significant announcement from the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV has appointed Bishop Ronald Hicks of Joliet, Illinois, as the new Archbishop of New York.
The 58-year-old archbishop-designate, a fellow Illinois native and the first American pontiff’s choice, will lead one of the Catholic Church’s most prominent archdioceses.
For the past five years, Bishop Ronald Hicks has celebrated Mass in the Diocese of Joliet.
Soon, he will preside at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.
Pope Leo XIV selected the Illinois native to succeed Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who turned 75 last February and submitted his required letter of resignation.
This transition marks a substantial increase in responsibility for Hicks: he moves from serving a diocese of approximately 520,000 Catholics across 117 parishes to an archdiocese encompassing some 2.8 million Catholics in 296 parishes.
Born and raised on the south side of Chicago in the suburb of South Holland—a short distance from Dolton, where Pope Leo XIV grew up.
Hicks attended Catholic schools and has a younger brother. He frequently speaks fondly of his family, once saying, “I’ll just set for the record with my family I hit the absolute lottery and jackpot I was born into such a wonderful family.”
A pivotal moment in Hicks’ faith journey occurred around age 14 during a family dinner table debate about the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
His father declared, “it absolutely is the real body and blood of Christ it is truly Him and if it weren’t there’d be no reason to go to church anyway… this is what it’s all about.”
Hicks has described this as the time of his conversion.
Like Pope Leo XIV, Hicks has experience as a missionary.
He spent five years serving orphaned and abandoned children in El Salvador.
Reflecting on that period, he shared, “If I were let alone and I was allowed to still be working at a home for orphaned and abandoned children in El Salvador and Central America I’d still be there—that’s where my heart is. I’ve been called now to be a Bishop and I think more as a Bishop I’m not doing hands-on things as much but what I want to do is inspire others to do it.”
Inspiring service has been a hallmark of his leadership in Joliet.
His recent pastoral letter, titled “Make,” served as a call to action for Catholics in the diocese.
He explained, “This is coming from my heart I love Jesus so much I want others to love Jesus and to be saved by him through the church and the sacraments and all of that… it’s just a good practical guide of how we might go out there and try to make disciples in our families, in our neighborhoods… in our workplaces, in our world.”
Archbishop-designate Hicks has previously mentioned meeting Pope Leo when the pontiff was Cardinal Robert Prevost.
The two share many similarities, though one notable difference stands out: Hicks is a devoted Chicago Cubs fan. He may soon adopt allegiance to the New York Yankees or Mets.
The date for Hicks’ installation Mass has yet to be announced.
Fr. Lou Scurti doesn’t hide his addiction — he’s been feeding it for close to 70 years. And now it’s bigger than himself.
“Oh Madonn’ it’s the presepio!” Fr. Lou said.
This is Fr. Lou’s addiction come to life — his personal collection of Nativity figures, called a presepio. Now it lives at the Italian American Museum in Lower Manhattan.
“Yes, it’s a passion, yes it’s a hobby. But it might be also addiction. But that’s alright, I enjoy this addiction,” Fr. Lou said.
It’s Fr. Lou Scurti’s gift to New York City this Christmas and every Christmas to come.
“I’m ecstatic! And I invite the public to come and visit it, to get a flavor for our history and the very sacred story of the birth of Jesus,” he said.
Fr. Lou is a retired priest from the Diocese of Paterson now ministering at St. Anthony of Padua in SoHo. Over the years, finding the perfect statues for the presepio has taken him to all corners of the globe. But it started under his uncle Jimmy’s Christmas tree in Jersey City.
“My uncle Jimmy Scurti, he would put the Christmas music on, my grandmother would come out and feed me, and I’d be under the tree playing with these figures,” Fr. Lou reminisced.
In the faces of these figures Fr. Lou sees the main figures in his own life. This gift that flows through generations of family tradition is in memory of them.
“All of my family’s presepii, my own presepio, my grandparents, pieces from all of our traditions are here,” he said.
Fr. Lou says there’s beauty in the imperfection and the details are what really shine. But the focus remains the same.
“Jesus is the root of all of this,” he said. “So this is a celebration of the word made flesh.”
As tourists flood New York City this Christmas season, Fr. Lou has high hopes for the museum’s visitors.
“When people come, I think it should warm their hearts, bring them back in history to their own origins, and, of course, to the birth of Jesus,” Fr. Lou said.
The presepio belongs to the museum now — but Fr. Lou’s heart lives among these statues. His love for them, for Christmas and his collection still grows.
PROSPECT HEIGHTS — Bishop Robert Brennan has condemned Gov. Kathy Hochul’s decision to legalize assisted suicide in New York State as “one more disregard for human life,” while making clear the added “guardrails” are not enough.
“Rightly, she has said so often that we face a suicide crisis in this state among young people. Gov. Hochul, you just told people that there are occasions when it’s OK to take your own life,” Bishop Brennan told The Tablet. “Forget about slippery slope, that’s just the message that’s been sent loud and clear.”
“Nice message to send this time of year.”
Hochul confirmed on Dec. 17 that she will sign the Medical Aid in Dying Act with the “guardrails” she requested to hedge against abuse of the soon-to-be-legal right to assisted suicide in New York State. The governor, who is Catholic, announced her intentions in an article (“Why I’m Supporting Medical Aid in Dying”) posted on her official website and at a press conference later in the day.
“Very simply, it’s wrong,” Bishop Brennan said. “This is just one more disregard for human life, and we just chip away and chip away at it. We’re a society that has really lost a sense of the dignity of human life.”
Hochul detailed how she reached her decision after considering both sides of the debate. Hochul said she will sign the bill, which the Legislature passed in June, next month when the Legislature is back in session.
The governor praised the lawmakers, writing that it will allow terminally ill people with less than six months left to live the option “to speed up the inevitable.”
She wrote that through her conversations with people tormented by pain, “I have come to see this as a matter of individual choice that does not have to be about shortening life but rather about shortening dying.”
“And,” she added, “I do not believe that in every instance condemning someone to excruciating pain and suffering preserves the dignity and sanctity of life.”
The article drew a strong joint response from Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, Bishop Brennan, and the state’s other Catholic bishops.
“We are extraordinarily troubled by Gov. Hochul’s announcement that she will sign the egregious bill,” the bishops said in a statement issued by the New York State Catholic Conference, which represents them on public policy matters.
“This new law,” they continued, “signals our government’s abandonment of its most vulnerable citizens, telling people who are sick or disabled that suicide in their case is not only acceptable, but is encouraged by our elected leaders.”
In her article, Hochul described how she met with dying patients in terrible pain, and how her own mother likewise suffered from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
“I heard stories of a parent or spouse pleading for an end to the suffering and how difficult it was to reply, ‘We can’t in New York,’ ” she wrote. “This was heartbreaking, and it hit close to home. I watched my own mom die from ALS.
“I watched that vicious disease steal away the strong woman who raised me as it took her ability to walk, to eat, to speak, and, ultimately, to live.”
The governor said she reflected on these issues during a funeral Mass for a family friend, during which the priest spoke of “the welcome home to eternal life.”
“I was taught that God is merciful and compassionate, and so must we be,” Hochul wrote. “This includes permitting a merciful option to those facing the unimaginable and searching for comfort in their final months in this life.”
However, in their statement, the New York State bishops make clear that assisted suicide is “in direct conflict with Catholic teaching on the sacredness and dignity of all human life from conception until natural death and is a grave moral evil on par with other direct attacks on human life.”
Hochul said that she understands and respects the views of people of many religious faiths for believing that “deliberately shortening one’s life violates the sanctity of life.” But, she noted, the bill she expects to sign includes amendments to ensure assisted suicide is allowed in only “very specific circumstances.”
She said these “guardrails” will protect vulnerable people, including people with disabilities and older adults, from being pressured or misled.
For example, an amendment will require confirmation from a doctor that a person has less than six months to live, and from a psychologist or psychiatrist declaring that the patient is capable of making the decision and not under duress.
The governor also requested a mandatory five-day waiting period in case patients change their minds. Written and recorded oral requests will also be required to confirm that free will is present. Also, anyone who may benefit financially from a person’s death will be disqualified from being a witness or interpreter of these requests.
Bishop Brennan rejected the notion that the guardrails will protect vulnerable people.
“That’s not enough,” he said. “Does that change the fact that you’re taking somebody’s life? How do you compromise on that?”
The governor also wrote that outpatient facilities associated with religious hospitals “may elect not to offer medical aid in dying.”
“Finally,” she concluded, “this is a right afforded to New Yorkers only.”
“I hope those who are disappointed by this outcome know this was a difficult decision for me personally,” Hochul wrote. “It was not made lightly. It was guided by a genuine and deeply held belief that government must respect the rights and will of the people it serves.”
The bishops, however, reiterated that the government’s role is to protect its constituents.
“Tragically,” they stated, “this new law will seriously undermine all of the anti-suicide and mental health care investments Gov. Hochul has made through her tenure,” the bishops said. “How can any society have credibility to tell young people or people with depression that suicide is never the answer, while at the same time telling elderly and sick people that it is a compassionate choice to be celebrated?”
They urged Catholics and all New Yorkers to reject this option for themselves, their loved ones, and those in their care.
“And,” they concluded, “we pray that our state turn away from its promotion of a culture of death and invest instead in life-affirming, compassionate hospice and palliative care, which is seriously underutilized.”
Offering a message to the pro-life community, Bishop Brennan said, “We have to continue to move forward with faith and hope.”
“We have to promote a transformation of the culture,” he added. “That’s the real task ahead of us.”
New York has taken a controversial step that faith leaders describe as crossing a moral line: Governor Kathy Hochul has signed the Medical Aid in Dying Act into law, making assisted suicide legal in the Empire State.
The legislation, passed by both houses of the state legislature earlier in the spring, grants terminally ill individuals with less than six months to live the right to medical aid to end their lives.
Governor Hochul described the measure as a way to “speed up the inevitable.”
Hochul, a Catholic, acknowledged internal conflict over the decision. “There was a lot of religious conflict within me — the way I was raised and the issues — but I also have realized it’s not about me. It’s about 20 million New Yorkers,” she said.
Dennis Poust from the New York State Catholic Conference called the governor’s decision a grave miscalculation.
“We can do better for our vulnerable, elderly and sick than giving them pills to end their lives. We can make them comfortable… and that’s the bottom line it’s not up to us to end the lives of others or encourage people to end their own lives,” Poust stated.
Catholics across the state have vocally opposed the bill, including holding vigils in the cold outside the governor’s office in hopes of persuading the Catholic governor to veto it.
Hochul said she considered the widespread belief that euthanasia violates the sanctity of life and respects those views.
However, she maintained that the law is not about shortening life but rather shortening dying.
Poust shared a personal story: “My own father was diagnosed with six months to live and lived for two and a half years. Doctors make mistakes… God takes us when he’s ready and our jobs as loved ones is to walk with those as they’re dying.”
New York now becomes the 13th U.S. jurisdiction to legalize physician-assisted suicide, joining California, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Vermont, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, Delaware, and Washington, D.C.
The governor emphasized that the bill allows individual doctors and religiously affiliated health facilities to decline to offer medical aid in dying.
She is also proposing additional safeguards to protect those with disabilities and the elderly from pressure, including input from a medical doctor and a psychologist, as well as a five-day waiting period.
For many in the faith community, however, these protections fall short. Poust said, “We were very clear with the Governor’s council all along that there are no amendments that they could offer that would make this acceptable to us because we see it as a fundamental moral evil on par with abortion or the death penalty or other attacks on human life.”
The bishops of New York State expressed being “extraordinarily troubled” by the decision, stating that the new law signals “our government’s abandonment of its most vulnerable citizens.”
They urged Catholics and all New Yorkers not to give up the pro-life fight.
In a formal statement from the New York State Catholic Conference, leaders reiterated: “We must clearly reiterate that it is in direct conflict with Catholic teaching on the sacredness and dignity of all human life from conception until natural death and is a grave moral evil on par with other direct attacks on human life. We call on Catholics and all New Yorkers to reject physician-assisted suicide for themselves, their loved ones, and those in their care. And we pray that our state turn away from its promotion of a culture of death and invest instead in life-affirming, compassionate hospice and palliative care, which is seriously underutilized.”
New York Catholic bishops are calling it an attack against life: Governor Kathy Hochul has announced she will sign the assisted suicide bill into state law once it is amended.
The Italian American Museum will have one priest’s personal nativity figure collection on display in Manhattan – Currents News got a tour of what you can see this holiday.
We remember Pope Francis on what would have been his 89th birthday, taking a look back at his legacy of serving the poor, the vulnerable, and the young.
For Hai Ho, being a college student can sometimes feel like an uphill battle. On Tuesdays he has class from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. with very few breaks, and learning on an empty stomach isn’t easy.
“My family has some trouble so it’s kind of challenging for me to keep continuing this school,” he said.
That’s why on Mondays he comes to pick up food at Vincent’s Table, St. John’s University’s new emergency food pantry exclusively for students. No lines, no shame, just nutritious food at the ready.
“Because as I have difficulty financially I usually buy frozen foods or cans but with this food pantry I get to eat a lot of kinds of food and I think it’s pretty great to have it,” Hai said.
According to Swipe Out Hunger, a national nonprofit looking to end college student hunger, 41 percent of college students experience some form of food insecurity. Mary-Elizabeth Sabo, St. John’s director of residential education and basic needs, says based on that average and St. John’s enrollment the school estimates more than 5,000 students could be food insecure.
“They are living and responsible for cooking for themselves. They need a little bit of extra support that they don’t yet have the benefit of a full time job to support themselves, or to be enrolled in support services on their own. And so this is an on campus safety net for them,” she said.
Those who got Vincent’s Table off the ground didn’t have to look far to find a model that’s had success in feeding the hungry. The site of St. John’s former Brooklyn campus is now one of the largest soup kitchens in New York City, St. John’s Bread & Life. Staff lent their expertise and their inventory to make it happen.
“Bread and life provided the blueprint to us from the way that they pack their fruits and vegetables to the software that they use to service their clients. We’ve duplicated over here. Everything is designed with the student experience in mind,” Sabo said.
“We live out the Vincentian mission to serve with joy and to make sure those among us have the tools necessary to be successful and one of those tools is basic necessities basic food,” said Bread & Life’s executive director Sr. Caroline Tweedy.
She said the shopping method and software they use allows for a dignified experience, and Vincent’s Table took notes.
“No one is ever turned away, no one is ever treated like less than a dignified human being, as Christians that’s what we’re all about,” Sr. Caroline said.
Students can come in and shop in person or order right from their phones and pick up in a discreet food locker.
“I had one student that shared without the pantry, they wouldn’t have access to fresh fruits and vegetables at all. This is quite literally a lifeline for students. It makes a difference between going to class hungry and being able to, be full and able to concentrate on their academics,” said Sabo.
Most St. John’s students will never need this place, but for those who do – there will always be a seat at Vincent’s Table.
A new statue celebrating the fatherhood of St. Joseph was unveiled and blessed at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph in Brooklyn. The image depicts Joseph teaching the young Jesus in his workshop, highlighting the dignity of work and the role of parents in passing on faith.
Andrew and Suze Lopez sit down with Currents News to share the extraordinary story of their son Ryu, born after a rare abdominal ectopic pregnancy that went undetected for months. The couple reflects on faith, timing, and the medical miracle that brought their baby boy into the world.
Bishop Robert Brennan visited Christ the King Regional High School in Middle Village to inaugurate a new shrine honoring St. Carlo Acutis, the Church’s first millennial saint. During a school-wide Mass, the bishop blessed a relic of the Italian teen and reminded students they can look to Carlo’s friendship with Jesus as a guide in their own lives.