Now Is the Moment to Advocate for Ethically Developed COVID-19 Vaccine, Says Archbishop Naumann

Currents News Staff

As researchers try to find a COVID-19 vaccine, an ethical issue for Catholics has surfaced.

Some research involves the use of cell lines from aborted fetuses.

Everyone wants to protect themselves from this virus, but what course of action should Catholics take if a vaccine is discovered using this method?

Meanwhile, abortion centers have remained open for business during the crisis while other medical procedures are being postponed. The head of Planned Parenthood says the pandemic may have what she calls a “silver lining”: increased access to chemical abortions provided through prescriptions.

Will the coronavirus pandemic cause people to have a greater appreciation of the value of all life, or is that wishful thinking?

Joining Currents News to discuss this issue is Kansas City Archbishop Joseph Naumann, Chair of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Expert Gives Tips on How to Stay Mentally Healthy During Pandemic After Spike in Queens Suicides

By Jessica Easthope

New York City has suffered a tremendous loss as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but not all have fallen victim to the virus.

“People who have lost their jobs, who have lost loved ones feel a profound sense of hopelessness,” said Republican Councilman Eric Ulrich of Queens.

Councilman Ulrich says the number of suicides in his borough since mid-March is shocking. In 2019, from January 1 until April 29, Queens saw 17 suicides. There have been 16 in the last six weeks since schools closed and people have been forced to stay home.

“I don’t think people have paid enough attention to the mental health impacts the COVID crisis has had,” Councilman Ulrich added. He believes those numbers could be even higher because so many suicides go unreported.

Queens has been hit especially hard by the virus with more than 48,000 confirmed cases. Nearly 3,600 Queens residents have died from COVID-19.

Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens Director of Field Operations, Holly Jaskiewicz Schatz, says the trauma of a global health crisis combined with a spike in unemployment and the loneliness of social isolation can be dangerous.

“It can have an extremely significant impact, with this we don’t really have an end in sight so then it makes the mind wander, what if, what will go on and it can just spiral out of control,” Holly said.

Catholic Charities is urging people to reach out for help at one of its five outpatient clinics or through it’s call center, which can be reached at 718-722-6001 and is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Counselors are also giving tips on how to stay mentally well from home during social distancing.

“It’s important for folks to continue with structure in their day,” Holly explained. “I’s easy when you’re not home, not doing anything to not shower or get dressed or eat healthily, so it’s important to continue to have structure.”

Experts say a great way to do your part to combat the mental health aspect of the COVID crisis is to call your friends and family and leave notes for neighbors, because making that human connection might save a life.

If you or someone you know might need help, call (718) 722-6001 or go to https://www.ccbq.org/.

Catholic Nurse Leans on God for Support While Treating COVID-19 Patients

By Emily Drooby

Nurses have been called to the frontlines as the country continues the fight against COVID-19. They’re heroes, willing to risk everything to help people they don’t even know, but who is helping them?

For nurse Colleen Donovan, God is.

“I think my faith has gotten me through a lot of things in my life,” she told Currents News.

Donovan normally works in the OR at NYU Winthrop Hospital in Long Island, but like so many of her fellow nurses across the country, her job has changed with the pandemic. Now she’s helping in the intensive care units and taking care of COVID-19 patients.

“It was totally different, totally different, I was very scared,” said Colleen, who has been a nurse for 34 years.

She says her co-workers and her strong Catholic faith have helped her throughout this difficult time.

“I find great strength in prayer, I pray a lot,” she explained. “I don’t step out of bed in the morning without saying my prayers and thanking God for giving me another day.”

She’s not the only one who feels this way. Catholics across the country are leaning on their faith for strength during the outbreak.

According to a Pew Research Center poll, 27 percent of people say their faith has grown stronger during the outbreak. Fordham University reports that among regular churchgoers, 68 percent saying their faith has helped them to get through the crisis.

Colleen has been a devout Catholic her whole life. She says at the hospital, she’s seen people’s faith grow firsthand. Many there have been taking part in daily prayer groups.

“A lot of people are praying and a lot of people have come back to their faith and they’re drawn to prayer, and finding great comfort in it,” she said. “After report we would all gather in the middle of the room and pray, and it just kind of calmed you. It just really gave you a good sense of calm and that we could do this, we could take care of it.”

How One Priest Is Helping African-Americans Cope With COVID-19

By Paula Katinas and Currents News Staff

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — The African-American community has been devastated by COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has found that while blacks comprise 13% of the U.S. population, they account for an astounding 33% of coronavirus hospitalizations.

In New York City, African-Americans are dying from coronavirus at twice the rate of whites, according to the city’s Department of Health.

Father Alonzo Cox knows the statistics well. As coordinator of the African-American Apostolate in the Diocese of Brooklyn, he has been offering advice, prayer and comfort to people in need.

“African-Americans are terrified of catching the virus,” said Father Cox, pastor of St. Martin de Porres Parish in Bedford-Stuyvesant. The parish consists of three churches – Our Lady of Victory, Holy Rosary, and St. Peter Claver.

A Pew Research Center survey found that fear of COVID-19 is far more prevalent among African-Americans than among whites.

When researchers asked respondents if they were “very concerned” about getting the virus, 31% of African-Americans said yes while 18% of whites confessed to having such fears.

African-Americans, who comprise a sizable portion of the Diocese, are increasingly turning to Father Cox for help in coping with the pandemic.

Even with social distancing rules in place, Father Cox is able to stay in contact with parishioners and serve as a sounding board for scared Catholics in Brooklyn and Queens. He does this by livestreaming his Masses every day and hosting Zoom meetings.

The message he wants to impart to the African-American community is simple: Stay home and stay safe.

As the nation continues to grapple with COVID-19, health experts are investigating the racial disparity in cases.

One reason African-Americans have contracted COVID-19 in larger numbers is that they often have underlying health issues, Father Cox said. “There are usually underlying conditions such as diabetes and heart issues,” he said.

COVID-19 patients with serious underlying medical conditions are at higher risk to suffer life-threatening consequences, according to the CDC.

But there have also been studies pointing out that African-Americans have high levels of stress brought on by racial discrimination. That might be a contributing factor to the stark COVID-19 picture, experts said. “I would agree with that. The fight for equality and justice has been borne on the shoulders of the African-American community,” said Father Cox, who served as secretary of the Diocesan Commission on Racism and Social Justice.

One of the biggest questions facing Catholics in the coronavirus-era is how to grieve for the dead.

“In our parish, we’ve had a few deaths, unfortunately,” said Father Cox. He expressed sympathy for the family of one elderly parishioner of Our Lady of Victory who recently died. Her whole life revolved around the church, he said.

As terrible as it is to lose a loved one in the middle of a pandemic, the pain is compounded by the fact that there are no funeral masses taking place. “We want to celebrate the life of our dead. And we can’t do it as we have in the past. It breaks my heart,” Father Cox said.

The highly contagious nature of COVID-19 prevents him from visiting the sick in hospitals. He frequently gets calls from people asking for prayers.

“We get a number of phone calls from parishioners telling us their Mom or their Dad is sick,” he said.

In addition to health issues, Father Cox also hears from his parishioners on other matters. One woman living in rapidly gentrifying Bedford-Stuyvesant told him that her landlord was insisting that she pay her rent, despite the fact that she lost her job.

“One of the questions we have to answer is whether this pandemic is going to allow us to have compassion for people who are suffering,” he said.

Church officials across the nation are expressing growing concern over the impact the coronavirus pandemic is having on African-Americans.

Bishop Shelton J. Fabre of Houma-Thibodaux, chairman of U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism; Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, chairman of USCCB’s Domestic Justice and Human Development; Archbishop Nelson J. Perez, chairman of the Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church and Bishop Joseph N. Perry, chairman of Subcommittee on African-American Affairs, released a statement urging lawmakers to investigate how the situation became so devastating.

“Our hearts are wounded for the many souls mourned as African-American communities across the nation are being disproportionately infected with and dying from the virus that causes COVID-19. We raise our voices to urge state and national leaders to examine the generational and systemic structural conditions that make the new coronavirus especially deadly to African-American communities,” the statement read.

Yet, there are signs of hope, according to Father Cox.

“People are longing to hear the word of Christ,” he said. “When I look at my Easter Candle, I am reminded of Christ’s love.”

Currents News full broadcast for Wednesday, 5/6/20

On the newscast:

– A top American Church leader, Archbishop Gregory Hartmayer, is installed in his new post but from a distance.

– A famous Diocese of Brooklyn institution, the Giglio feast, won’t grace the skies this year but organizers are vowing to come back strong after the pandemic.

– A coronavirus treatment could be here by summer. The search is on in New York City.

– It is Nurses Appreciation Week. We honor one of the bravest. She’s on the frontlines despite her own illness.

Watch weeknights at 7:00 pm EST on NET-TV in the New York City area on Spectrum, Optimum, and Fios. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to receive notifications about new content.

http://netny.tv

Brooklyn Nurse With Cystic Fibrosis Continues Working During Pandemic

By Michelle Powers

Megan DiBenedetto knows what it’s like to gasp for air. She knows what it’s like to not have the lung capacity to even sit up.

“I couldn’t even get out of bed, which is not like me at all,” Meg says, reflecting back on her latest bout with illness. She’s not a COVID-19 survivor, instead she’s a Cystic Fibrosis (CF) warrior; she has been for as long as she can remember.

“My mom found out when I was nine months old,” Megan told Currents News.

The news that their baby had CF changed the DiBenedetto family’s life. Their little girl would always have persistent lung infections that would limit her ability to breathe. Meg’s condition would flare up 27 years later, just as the coronavirus was brewing.

“I dropped like 20 pounds. My doctor was like, ‘We are just going to do a diabetes test because you have no explanation for this weight loss.’ And that test came back positive,” Meg explained.

People with diabetes and CF are considered to be at high risk to the coronavirus. They’ve been advised to “cocoon,” to literally not leave their homes. But Meg isn’t cocooning, she’s flourishing, in perhaps the most dangerous place for her.

She’s a nurse at a New York City hospital in the epicenter of the pandemic.

“It’s on my floor,” Meg said, “It’s not like I’m excluded, my whole hospital has it.”

When New York had its first case, Meg thought about taking a leave of absence, but she hasn’t. After years of her own suffering, and nurses coming to her aid in surgeries and with pick lines, she decided that her place was on the front line, just as long as her co-workers and friends watched out for her.

“They are doing everything they could,” Meg explained, “It is very difficult because I can’t help them.” But, Meg is helping her fellow nurses. Since she can’t directly treat COVID patients, she’s been doing everything else necessary to keep the hospital and her co-workers going. Even now, in the face of a pandemic, the go-getter has never let a sickness get the best of her.

“My parents raised me to do everything every other kid did,” Meg said. And till this day, it is that attitude that motivates her. The DiBenedettos put their daughter in every sport, and Meg went on to swim Division I. Her parents still support her today, banging pots and pans outside every night.

Just like in her own life, Meg has accepted the sickness, and every day she fights to overcome it. “There’s nowhere to run,” she says, “You just have to deal with it.”

The pandemic is no different, in her opinion. She says that sometimes, you just have to run head on into your biggest challenges. Since the crisis started, that’s what she’s been doing, running.

She takes long runs by her church in Dyker Heights, and she stops and always says a prayer. But the prayer isn’t for her, it’s for everyone else.

Despite Canceled Giglio Feast, Organizers Vow to Keep Tradition Alive and Bring in New Participants

By Jessica Easthope

Unprecedented times call for tough decisions.

For the last 117 years thousands of men have carried the tradition of the Giglio Feast on their shoulders, watching their fathers and grandfathers come up through Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church and take on the task of lifting the seven-story, four-ton tower in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

For the first time since World War II, the Giglio tower will not dance in the sky above Brooklyn, but Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello, pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, knows the tradition will endure.

“We realized as much as it’s a painful decision we had to make, we had to make it,” Msgr. Jamie told Currents News.

“Next year, the feast is bigger and better than ever and we’re going to lift it through the sky,” he added.

“I would never know how close I would have stayed to the Church growing up have had I not been so drawn into the traditions we had at my parish,” explained John Perrone, a member of the Giglio Feast Committee.

Like many who participate, John was born in Williamsburg but has since moved away from the old neighborhood. Every year, the feast takes him back.

“For me, it was the highlight of my summer as a kid,” John said. “I grew more and more attracted to it and it made me the guy I am today.”

The Giglio has watched the neighborhood change from 72 feet in the air. In recent years, new people meant having to recruit new lifters.

“Everything that we did the past few years as far as recruiting and welcoming people into the tradition was really just that we wanted to share the tradition with other people,” John said.

Now, Msgr. Jamie says it’s time to make the Giglio Feast part of the Church’s evangelization efforts once again.

“The young people in the neighborhood will question, ‘Why do these people come from all over?’ and maybe they’ll say, ‘I want to be a part of that,’ or ‘I want that in my life,’” Msgr. Jamie said of the community.

Msgr. Jamie is not worries about the life of the feast, but what is a concern is what happens at Our Lady of Mount Carmel without its biggest fundraiser during a year when churches are closed?

“We rely on the profits from the feast to support the parish for the whole year,” he explained.

The feast committee is now reaching out in different ways with raffles and donations to help meet its financial goal, all while keeping the real goal in mind.

“That is our only goal to continue this tradition, to keep our parish healthy and to pass this on to the next generation,” John said.

For now the Giglio remains on the ground while the fate of this year’s feast remains up in the air.

Archbishop Gregory Hartmayer of Atlanta Installed Using Social Distancing Amid the Pandemic

By Emily Drooby

May 6 marked a historic moment at the Cathedral of Christ The King as a socially distanced installation took place in Atlanta, Georgia.

The pews sat empty while Deacon Thomas McGiveny of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church offered prayers to both the sick and those affected by the pandemic as Archbishop Gregory Hartmayer was installed to lead the Archdiocese of Atlanta.

“Those I love, those I revere, those I have been asked to tend in His name, are not gathered around me. This Cathedral is empty,” the new archbishop observed.

There were many differences from a traditional installation Mass. Clergy stood a safe distance apart and many watched at home on the livestream.

In addition, the Apostolic Mandate – the decree from the Holy Father that appoints Archbishop Hartmayer to the seat of the Archdiocese of Atlanta – was read on a video by Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, His Excellency Archbishop Christophe Pierre.

This would normally happen inside the Cathedral, but even with all of the changes, the new leader of Atlanta’s Catholic Church was not discouraged.

Archbishop Hartmayer told the small crowd and all those listening on the livestream, “ I wish you were all here, but there will be a time when we will gather together and celebrate as a church.”

Archbishop Hartmayer is originally from Buffalo, New York. He’s been the Bishop of Savannah, Georgia since 2011 and has spent a lot of time working in schools.

He is now the seventh Archbishop of Atlanta, replacing Archbishop Wilton Gregory, who became the head of the Archdiocese of Washington D.C. last year.

Atlanta has been without a leader for a year, but National Correspondent for The Tablet and Crux, Christopher White, thinks that could be a factor in holding the ceremony amid the pandemic.

“Pope Francis, the Holy See recognizes that we don’t know how long these restrictions will last,” he explained. “I think they see it as important to go ahead and get him in place, so that he can be there to help rebuild as the diocese begins their recovery effort.”

The new archbishop will continue to meet his new clergy and staff through video conferences for the time being.

How Bishop DiMarzio Is Using a New Committee to Plan Ahead for When Churches Reopen Post-Coronavirus

By Emily Drooby

Churches across the Diocese of Brooklyn have been closed since March 20 because of the pandemic. As New York starts to look at their reopening options, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio is also preparing.

“We want to be ready to go as soon as we get the clearance…It’s not going to be exactly the way it was when we stopped because of the need for social distancing,” explained the Bishop of Brooklyn.

He is forming an ad hoc committee to help him develop a roadmap detailing how churches will reopen. Bishop DiMarzio has tapped Joseph Esposito, the former commissioner of New York City’s Office of Emergency Management, to chair the committee

Esposito’s plan? “To get a head start and lay some ground rules on how we are going to do this.”

There are many logistics to figure out: how many people can fit at one time, how to avoid overcrowding, will masks and taking temperatures be required, what events will be allow first and how they’re going to deal with communion.

“Do we let the priest give out the host, do we let the parishioners pick up the host, do we bring it back at all, do only the priests and Eucharistic ministers receive communion?” asked Esposito. “These are the issue we have to deal with.”

Bishop DiMarzio and Esposito are seeking other members to be part of the committee, and are considering retired police officials, medical personnel and people with experience in government to join.

Safely reopening will not be an easy task. Brooklyn and Queens are two of the areas hit hardest by the pandemic.

“It’s hitting us hard,” said Bishop DiMarzio. “I know one parish, there’s 75-80 parishioners who have died. This was last week’s count, that have died. That’s a lot of people in one parish.”

Bishop DiMarzio and Esposito both has confidence the committee will be able to come up with a good and safe plan.

“We continue working on it. I think we will be ready for when the governor and elected officials say it’s good to go and open up,” said Esposito.

Bishop DiMarzio described “a sense of hope and relief” in the discussions he has held so far.

Currents News full broadcast for Tuesday, 5/5/20

On the newscast:

– Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio wants to hit the ground running once Churches get the okay to open again. He has a top-level team to help get ready.

– Crushing job losses are leaving New Yorkers with nothing to eat. One family has plans to say goodbye to the city of dreams.

– More states are reopening but that decision could be deadly. There are new coronavirus projections.

– The Knights of Columbus are everyday heroes during this pandemic and they are doing a lot in the Diocese of Brooklyn.

Watch weeknights at 7:00 pm EST on NET-TV in the New York City area on Spectrum, Optimum, and Fios. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to receive notifications about new content.

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