Pastors Bring Hope Through Parish Neighborhoods With Blessed Sacrament

By Emily Drooby

In a sign of hope, community and faith, clergy from Saint Helen Church in Howard Beach, Queens are taking to the streets, processing with the Blessed Sacrament.

They’re bringing the Church right to their parishioners’ doorsteps – but from a safe distance.

“The people here miss their church,” said Father Francis Colamaria, pastor at St. Helen’s, “but we also have an elderly population that is not watching online.”

It’s a unique way to give a benediction to the sick, to see their parishioners and to make sure they’re reaching everyone, including those unable to tune into the church’s popular live-streamed Masses.

Fr. Colamaria says the idea came from the past.

“Historically, this has been done during plagues, processions of popes and bishops going through their diocese or their parishes,” he explained. “We wanted to do the same thing.”

They will continue to do this every day starting at 1:30 p.m., taking a different route until they have covered the whole parish.

And St. Helen’s is not alone. Pastors all over the country have been doing this as a way to stay connected with the faithful, including in Brooklyn.

On April 19, the Celebration of the Divine Mercy at Shrine Church of Our Lady of Solace in Brooklyn included the visitation of the Blessed Sacrament through the streets of Coney Island.

They spread an important message to their parishioners.

“They are not alone in their suffering, that is the best message we could communicate through the best medium of the Church which is the Holy Sacrament, the Eucharist,” explained the church’s pastor, Father Shiju Chittattukara. “God is visiting them to give them the healing, to give them the consolation, to give them the peace that they need at this time.”

It’s just another way priests are creatively changing their approach when it comes to spreading the faith during the global pandemic.

How to Manage Your Finances While Facing the Economic Impact of Coronavirus

By Franca Braatz

The stock market is teetering, businesses are shuttered and people are out of work. The coronavirus pandemic and the financial chokehold gripping the country has people scared.

Managing your finances during this potentially devastating time economically can be stressful, but experts like Aquiles Larrea, founder and CEO of Larrea Wealth Management says don’t panic. Instead, use this time to get your money in order.

“I tell people, ‘Let’s first look at our savings,’” he explained. “You want to have around 6 months of savings, piled up, ready to go for scenarios just like this. Forget about investing, forget about anything else. Once that particular guideline is reached, then you can start thinking about the other things.”

Other things include a plan to stabilize your financial future — do not run from creditors, prioritize bill payment and spending, and make adjustments to your 401K only if necessary.

If you do have investments, “you want to make sure that you don’t want to make any dramatic moves at the moment,” said Aquiles. “I see a lot of people have such doubt, and that’s one of the worst things you could do unless you need the money right this second.”

Though no one can estimate when the country will reopen for business or what the long-term economic impact will be, the time to plan for any eventuality is now. And if you can, be bold, Aquiles says.

“This is a time to be brave,” he added. “Go after what you want and go above and beyond what you think is possible in your own world.”

While it’s hard to predict, many economists believe that the economy should start to rebound by the fall, but that the real headway won’t happen until at least the first quarter of 2021.

Catholic Leaders Unite in Grassroots Effort to Help Migrants During Pandemic

By Christopher White, National Correspondent

NEW YORK — A number of prominent Catholic leaders have joined grassroots organizations from Central America, Mexico, and the United States in releasing a five-point action plan to protect migrants and refugees during the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Released on April 15 in an effort spearheaded by the Hope Border Institute and Faith in Action, the joint statement says it is aimed to promote both preventative and protection strategies.

“This pandemic is a public health crisis that brings home how interconnected we are,” they wrote. “It is our collective responsibility to act rapidly and in solidarity.”

The five-step plan calls for the “rapid, safe and orderly” release of as many asylum seekers and migrants currently in detention; significant new measures to stem the spread of the coronavirus in refugee camps, migrant shelters and detention centers; equitable access to testing and emergency care; a guaranteed right to asylum; and a call for “immediate and large-scale” investments for public health systems, food, and income support for vulnerable families.

Catholic signatories to the statement include Sister Norma Pimentel, Executive Director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, Cardinal Álvaro Ramazzini Imeri of Huehuetenango in Guatemala, Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey; Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, Archbishop Charles Thompson of Indianapolis, Bishop Edward Weisenburger of Tucson, Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky, Bishop Oscar Cantú of San Jose, and Bishop Emeritus Gerald Kicanas.

Other Catholic organizations that have signed on are Catholic Relief Services, Catholic Labor Network, Faith in Public Life, Ignatian Solidarity Network, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, and Pax Christi. They were joined by a number of interfaith leaders, representing nearly 50 organizations.

“We call for an international solidarity that promotes the economic recovery of the countries of the region and as well as the human and integral development of the most vulnerable families and communities,” write the signatories, with a focus on the root causes of poverty, violence and corruption that force people to leave their homes and seek refuge elsewhere.

The joint statement comes at a time when the health and safety of migrants and refugees are facing extreme risks, with public health officials warning that detention facilities could become a hotbed for the spread of the virus.

Earlier this week the health minister of Guatemala said that the United States has deported “many” COVID-19 positive migrants to the country heightening fears that such practices could continue the spread of the virus during a critical time in which countries around the globe are taking forceful measures to stop its spread.

“Even before the pandemic immigrants in detention were forced to endure unsafe conditions, and now this crisis requires an urgent humanitarian response,” said John Gehring, Catholic program director at Faith in Public Life, which signed on to the statement.

“Catholics and other people of faith are speaking out for the common good and public health. The goal is to hold those in power accountable for this injustice and demand policy changes that will protect the health and human dignity of migrants and their families,” he told The Tablet.

Last month, Dylan Corbett of the HOPE Border Institute, criticized the Trump administration’s decision to close the southern border to asylum seekers, arguing that the administration has weaponized the panic created from the spread of the coronavirus to turn back asylum seekers trying to enter the U.S.

“They are using pandemic as an excuse to effect the controls that they’ve always wanted to implement, which is the end of asylum,” he told The Tablet.

Jennifer Poidatz, vice president of Catholic Relief Services’s humanitarian response department, which also signed the statement, said that their teams are working to design triage centers for health facilities and temporary centers for isolation.

“Given the conditions so many men, women and children find themselves in after being displaced from their homes could mean this virus spreading like wildfire through shelters and camps, claiming many more lives and putting many more at risk,” Poidatz said in a statement, also highlighting that in places such as Mexico and El Salvador, some migrant shelters have closed forcing new arrivals to be homeless and even heightening their vulnerabilities.

“For refugees living in a camp, the congested environment and limited access to hygiene items like clean water and soap can make it difficult to follow the guidelines for preventing the spread of COVID-19,” she continued. “Hygiene supplies, clear information and social distancing practices are critical in camp environments. The ability to isolate and care for those who are sick is also essential during this crisis.”

“People living in precarious situations are at greater risk for disease in normal times and need even more protection now,” Poidatz warned.

Orthodox Christians Keep Easter Traditions Alive During Pandemic

By Jessica Easthope

A church that’s pitch black represents the tomb where Jesus is laid in the days leading up to his resurrection, and this is how the Orthodox Christian community begins its Easter celebration every year.

But unlike years past, this time a camera has replaced the parishioners of Saint Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn.

“To not have the people there for the Easter Vigil, out in the streets, proclaiming the resurrection Gospel, was very surreal for us,” explained archpriest Father Thomas Zain.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the cathedral was nearly empty. The only people present were Fr. Thomas and his family.

Fr. Thomas is fighting to keep the usually interactive tradition alive against all odds.

“Usually all the people in the church would come up with their candles and light them with my candle and process outside,” he said.

Parts of the paschal vigil that normally require parishioner participation went on anyway. Fr. Thomas reenacted entering the tomb to discover that Jesus is risen.

“The priest comes out with the one candle and chants,” he explained, and then the once dark church is illuminated, every light is turned on and every candle is lit proclaiming the resurrection.

Fr. Thomas said when everything returns to normal, he hopes his parishioners continue to illuminate their homes with the Word of God proving that during times of darkness, Jesus is the light.

Ask the Doctor: Is the Drug Remdesivir the Answer to Treating COVID-19?

Currents New Staff

More than a hundred years after the Spanish flu, while we have more tools and knowledge to combat a pandemic, there are still so many unanswered questions.

One of our viewers, Judi, wants to know: if we take Tylenol before going food shopping could it help to ward off the virus?

A study recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed more than two-thirds of patients who were severely ill with Covid-19 improved after being treated with the drug remdesivir, and a Bronx hospital is using it in clinical trials.

Meanwhile, others are continuing to compare the coronavirus to the seasonal flu, saying things like, “the economy doesn’t shut down because of the flu.”

Are doctors looking into whether having the seasonal flu vaccine offers any type of protection against COVID-19?

Some people are trying to keep their local restaurants in business by ordering take out. How should we handle that food and the containers it comes in?

To help Currents News answer some of these questions and debates is Dr. Robert Tiballi, an infectious disease expert with the Catholic Medical Association.

Send Currents News your questions about the coronavirus at [email protected]. And tune in on Fridays – the doctor could have an answer.

Currents News full broadcast for Fri, 4/17/20

On the newscast: A bond with God that can’t be broken. St. John’s University students and faculty won’t let the coronavirus crisis stop the journey to their new faith; A special report on the undetected killer that swept the globe one hundred years ago and how the Church came to the rescue; A drug being tested in New York could be the cure everyone is hoping for; The doctor is in! And he’s answering the questions you have about the coronavirus.

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St. John’s RCIA Candidates Remain United in Faith Despite Virus Crisis

By Jessica Easthope

Receiving the sacraments is what Divine Mercy Sunday would have looked like for St. John’s University’s candidates coming through the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults program. This year, it was supposed to happen on April 19, but is postponed due to the coronavirus.

“When the pandemic hit, we were pretty much toward the end of our educational classes but RCIA is a faith journey,” explained Sister Pat Evanick, the university’s Campus Minister for Faith Formation and Catholic Leadership.

She works with faculty who are RCIA candidates. Since September, she’s helped Jiyun Kim, an associate professor of biology, on her faith journey.

“I go to Mass, and I’m spiritually renewed, and that experience is not possible at non-Catholic universities,” she explained.

This year’s class is made up of 20 people. Eleven, like Jiyun, have prepared to receive all of their sacraments. The other nine were baptized Catholic, but never followed through.

Stephanie DiGiorgio is a 21-year-old pharmacy student at the school. She says that when she started school at St. John’s, she couldn’t help but answer a strong calling from God.

“I stopped going to CCD when I was in elementary school because I didn’t want to go and I didn’t feel a connection to it,” she told Currents News.

“I fell in love with the church there, and that opened up my whole feeling of wanting to explore more of my faith and it’s where I felt my faith,” she added.

But with being forced to cancel weekly meetings, the RCIA candidates’ new faith is being tested. They can’t hold hands or pray together, yet their connection is stronger than ever.

“Reaching out to each other, texting each other saying I hope you guys are still praying, we’re all keeping in touch it’s nice to know we’re all in this together.”

Sr. Pat says knowing the candidates encourage each other confirms for her that they already have something that can’t be taught in religious instruction.

“This is the norm for them, they don’t have those traditional pieces we fall back on. Their faith is built on the small things which I think is a challenge for us constantly, to be in communion with God about,” she said.

The candidates are still praying and are hoping to make their sacraments next semester on September 20.

Women Religious Answer Call to Serve During 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic

By Franca Braatz and Michelle Powers

The Spanish influenza was an undetected killer sweeping the globe as the world was in the throes of a deadly world war, a virus so relentless, it infected one third of the world’s population and killed an estimated 50 million people.

Six-hundred-and-seventy-five-thousand perished in the United States alone.

Author John Barry has written extensively about “the great influenza,” calling its impact lethal.

The 1918 pandemic killed roughly two-thirds of the people in a matter of weeks. “Adjusted for population, that would equal about 220 to 440 million people today,” Barry explained.

It also concentrated on otherwise healthy young adults. The peak age for death was 28.

With no vaccine or medicines to combat disease, the Spanish influenza – considered one of the worst pandemics in modern day history – quickly overwhelmed the medical community.

As infections soared, Catholic sisters from all over the country were called to serve in new and profound ways.

Sister Margaret Donegan from Mount Saint Vincent Convent in the Bronx has researched the extraordinary efforts of 14 Sisters of Charity who traveled to the rural mining town of Shamokin, Pennsylvania, a tiny community placed under Marshall Law and surrounded by state police because of the high levels of contagion.

“They saw terrible terrible things,” she explained.

There were stories so heartbreaking the sisters wrote their Mother Superior to tell her “that they had seen things they could never write about and that they had seen things they could never imagine,” said Sr. Maragret.

“They gave out medicine and they would bathe the patients. They would hold their hands, they would talk to them, they would pray for them. They would listen to their stories,” she explained.

They were women of faith, doing whatever was necessary to relieve the suffering.

“They went into homes and saw parents who had died and children huddled together. They brought these families food. They listened to fathers saying they were the breadwinners, what was going to happen to their wife and to their children? They saw mothers pleading to God to cure them because of the children who were at home,” Sister Margaret told Currents News.

From mining communities in rural Pennsylvania to makeshift encampments in Ohio and Massachusetts, these women cared for the stricken in hospitals, tented clinics and even private homes. Many did so with little or no medical experience.

In Philadelphia, one of the nation’s hardest hit areas, over 2,000 women religious were called into action. At least 23 of them lost their lives in the fight. It’s a sacrifice the Catholic Historical Research Center of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia wants us all to remember.

“They were putting their lives on the line… not just for Catholics of Philadelphia but for any person of any faith,” said Patrick Shank, assistant archivist for the Archdiocese.

“It’s really remarkable how quickly they all came together, the Church as a whole, in organizing and having such a cohesive response to this pandemic and making sure that it was limited and didn’t become worse. They were really focused on helping as many people as they could,” he added.

John Barry describes the situation in Philadelphia as so dire that “priests were driving horse drawn carts down the streets, calling on people to bring out their dead. They were digging mass graves,” he said.

One hundred years later, their example still shines as a model of courage and sacrifice: sisters putting the needs of others before themselves, remembered by a grateful community and by one of their own.

“They were bringing the compassion of Jesus to these people because they were not nurses,” Sr. Maragret explained, “but what could they do but bring the compassion of Jesus to the suffering.”

These women of faith will forever be remembered on the front lines, answering the call in service to God and country.

Jason Lalima

Tune in for a special one-hour season premiere of Breaking Bread! Jason Lalima of Madonia Bakery joins host Msgr. Jamie in his kitchen to bake – and break – bread that’s sinfully delicious! This show is available on Spectrum Channel 97 and Cablevision Channel 30, and Verizon Fios Channel 48 in the New York area. For more information, go to http://netny.tv/shows/breaking-bread/.

Social Distancing Not a Threat to Religious Freedom, Says Archbishop Lori

Currents News Staff

The Mass and Eucharist are a big part of the Catholic faith, but due to the coronavirus crisis, churches have closed, services are being held online and we can’t physically have the sacrament.

Some priests have been trying to get the sacraments to their parishioners in different ways, such as online confessions.

Other Christians across the country are angry — they want to go to church. In fact, in California three church communities are suing the governor there, alleging that social distancing orders violate their First Amendment right to freedom of religion.

Certain areas of the U.S. won’t even allow drive up church services. In Mississippi churchgoers were issued fines for doing so, but many argue churches can practice safe social distancing the same way grocery stores.

There have been calls on social media for priests to rebel and offer underground Masses, reportedly even in New York.

Archbishop William Lori of the Archdiocese of Baltimore is a staunch fighter for religious freedom, and joins Currents News to talk about what’s happening at churches across the country amid the coronavirus pandemic.