Catholic Students Celebrate Black History in Science, Music and Literature

Currents News Staff

The contributions of African Americans to science, literature, music and culture are endless. All month we’ve been celebrating black history and how it has shaped our world today.

To bring Black History Month to a close, students at Our Lady’s Catholic Academy in South Ozone Park, Queens took on the challenge of celebrating as many accomplishments of African Americans as possible.

At a school assembly, the kids portrayed historic figures of the past and present.Teacher Kelly Legg, who put everything together, said highlighting Black history is something she does all year long while promoting the school’s Catholic mission.

“One of the sixth grade classes is performing ‘Joyful, Joyful’ from Sister Act, which is super cool, but it’s also roping in the catholic identity we have,” she explained.

“I feel like now people are not afraid to show who they are, and that they’re equal,” said Breanna Kahn, a sixth grader.

This is the first year the school has celebrated Black History Month in such a big way. It plans to hold an assembly during the last week of February every year from now on.

It’s the First Friday of Lent and You Want a Burger – What to do?

Currents News Staff

Still craving that Friday night burger even though it’s the Lenten season? You could satisfy the craving with a plant-based burger.

But some Catholics are questioning whether meat-less meat violates the spirit of Lent.

One official in the Archdiocese of Chicago says while it’s technically allowed, plant-based “meat” might be contrary to the spirit of sacrifice that inspires the practice of fasting.

U.S. Stocks Continue to Fall Amid Coronavirus Fears

Currents News Staff

The DOW opened 750 points lower on Friday, Feb. 28 — its seventh straight day in the red as coronavirus fears continue to mount.

The broader S&P 500 opened down 2.8 percent, and the NASDAQ composite fell nearly three percent.

All three major indexes are on track for their worst week since October 2008.

Around the globe, financial markets, storefronts, public events and businesses are seeing the strain of the ongoing coronavirus outbreaks.

The World Health Organization said Feb. 28 the risk of the virus spreading worldwide was “very high.” The virus causes an illness known as COVID-19, a new respiratory virus which originated in Wuhan, the capital of Central China’s Hubei province.

Also Feb. 28, South Korea counted 571 new cases of coronavirus, exceeding the number of cases found in China.

According to the Associated Press, Lithuania, Mexico, New Zealand and Nigeria are among the nearly 60 countries to have reported new cases of the virus in the past weeks.

To date, over infected 83,000 individuals have been affected worldwide globally, with 2,800 deaths.

Meanwhile, in Italy where Venice Carnival and public Lenten religious gatherings have been canceled as a result, 20 people were arrested for selling masks for as much as 5,000 euros ($5,520) each, under the claim they offered full protection from COVID-19.

From Europe, to Asia and now Wall Street, stocks have continued to fall as public concern for the spread of the virus grows.

Pope Francis Cancels Meetings for Second Day in a Row

By Melissa Butz

For the second consecutive day Pope Francis has canceled his meetings due to a bad cold.

The Vatican spokesman said Feb. 28 the pontiff celebrated morning Mass and greeted the participants, but decided not to leave home.

Pope Francis, 83, had to cancel an important meeting with managers of IBM and Microsoft to sign a “call to ethics” in Artificial Intelligence.

On Feb. 26, it was very cold outside during the General Audience. Later that day, he processed through the streets of Rome and celebrated Mass on Ash Wednesday in an ancient and cold Roman basilica.

The Holy Father has his doctor, Fabrizio Soccorsi, who he consults for these delicate issues.

His doctor has advised him to take care of himself and not leave Casa Santa Marta.

Currents News full broadcast for Thurs, 2/27/20

On the newscast: Pope Francis cancels a visit with Rome’s priests because he’s under the weather; Students at a Bishop Loughlin High School get a first-hand look at the effects of vaping; A special report on facial recognition technology. Women of faith now shining a light on companies using it to track your every move; Plus: Can you eat a meatless burger on Fridays during Lent?

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Catholic Retreat House to Close Doors for Renovation

By Tim Harfmann

The Bishop Molloy Retreat House in Jamaica Estates, Queens, is run by the Passionate priests.

It’s been open for nearly 100 years, but that’s changing — not enough people are going to the oasis for prayer and reflection.

“If we have 70, that’s a very good size group for us,” explained Father John Lee, the retreat house’s director.

According to Fr. Lee, come June the once-flourishing center is closing down to get ready for a comeback.

Bishop Molloy Retreat House is going to be refreshed and renovated to present a brighter face to Catholics.

The programs are all going to be updated with a special focus on a new generation of believers.

“I don’t think it’s a mystery that maintaining these large institutions has become increasingly challenging,” said Father Jim O’Shea, Provincial of the Eastern Province of Passionists.

“We see closures happening all over the place…despite the excellent work, you’re still dealing with a church that’s extraordinarily different than the church that founded this place many, many years ago.”

“But the renovations won’t only be happening inside the retreat house,” he added. “Changes will be made outdoors as well. Solar panels will be installed in the parking lot you see behind me to help save God’s green earth and cut down on costs.”

“And that will produce a significant amount of clean energy that will help to fulfill the mission that Pope Francis has asked us to do, but also it’s our moral responsibility as leaders,” he said.

“I think we really are latching onto something that has high potential,” said Fr. Lee.

The retreat house plans on being back in business within a year.

Eyes on You: Nuns Are Keeping Facial Recognition Companies In Check

By Tamara Laine

Advances in facial recognition software are just the latest in polarizing technology that has limitless potential for mankind, and for abuse.

It is a 5 billion dollar industry, and rising. Companies are developing technology that can track your every move, use your face to unlock doors and even follow your church attendance.

But as tech giants and little-known startups race to sell their software, their efforts have collided with an unlikely force: religious sisters who are showing no mercy.

“There are wonderful contributions that technology has given us, but we also have to be attentive to the misuse,” explained Sister Pat Daly of the Sisters of Saint Dominic.

“The fact that it has the potential to be such a violation of human rights on so many levels,” is a concern, added Sister Patricia Mahoney of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Brentwood, Long Island.

These two women of faith are taking on some of America’s most powerful companies —

Amazon and Northrop Grumman —and they are doing it as major shareholders and investors, banning together to leverage their influence to pressure corporations for change.

“If you have shares in a company, you have a right as a shareholder,” explained Sr. Mahoney, “to launch a proposal or gather others to do it with you, which is what we do.”

Tucked away in a humble office in Brooklyn, New York, Sr. Mahoney reviewed a shareholder proposal that her coalition of investors submitted to Amazon in 2019.

“It’s a very brief resolution, asking simply that they stop marketing it to ICE, making it available to ICE, and that the hope is further really, sophistication of the product and regulation in place,” she said.

Amazon and Northrop Grumman are two of hundreds of companies racing to create technology driven by artificial intelligence.

Last quarter alone, Amazon’s web services division, which operates their recognition app, brought in 10 billion dollars in revenue. Though their software is available to the general public, they’ve made a major push to sell it to law enforcement.

A major concern for Sr. Daly, was the recent Northrop Grumman deal with the Department of Homeland Security. The 95 million dollar contract to build a biometrics database, raising red flags for women of faith.

“Representatives from faith communities come together, and what they’re doing is really leveraging the power that we have as investors,” said Sr. Daly. “So when you’re an investor in a company, you are one of the owners.”

She is leading the fight to have Northrop Grumman include a code of ethics in its technology.

“If you’re an investor, you certainly have benefits, financial benefits, but you have the responsibility to participate and to be attentive to the work of that company,” Sr. Daly added.

Both sisters are members of the Tri-State Coalition of Responsible Investment, which represents a group of faith-based investors with over 1.32 billion dollars worth of assets.

“The technology is great and pretty accurate if you’re a white person or especially a white man,” explained Sr. Daly. “But if you’re a person of color, there are a lot of problems. And so it’s very dangerous to be pinning using this as evidence against people of color, until the technology is really addressed.”

A recent federal study confirmed this bias. In December, researchers tested 200 facial recognition algorithms and found minorities were far more likely than white people to be misidentified.

Some experts, like A.I. policy advisor and Harvard Fellow Mutale Nkonde, argue that human rights violations are already being seen around the world.

“I think one of the saddest stories that we’re seeing in facial recognition is in Eurasia, with the Uighur people in China,” says Nkonde. “This group of people are darker and they’re Muslim, and the use of facial recognition is being used to control them. So every hundred meters, they have to go through a checkpoint, where face cams are taken under match to see if it’s them and they can move forward.”

While it is seen by some as a problematic development in surveillance capitalism, others like Moshe Greenshpan see it as a positive tool in unlocking the vast potential of data.

His Isreali-based company, Face-Six, has developed facial recognition solutions for health, education and security uses, and even software for churches that tracks attendance.

“The facial recognition market is really big and diverse,” he explained. “Facial recognition is not only used at churches, the technology is being used via security, by security agencies, by army, by police. And they are all doing it for a good purpose.”

There may be good uses of facial recognition and artificial intelligence.

“I think some of the great uses of facial recognition technology are certainly when we’re looking to recover people, children that have been kidnapped, people with alzheimer’s, who may wander away and they don’t know their family they don’t know where they are,” said Nkonde.

While the potential of facial recognition technology spans far beyond surveillance, the major force driving the market’s growth is increased demand from government and law enforcement agencies.

“What they’re doing is using the pictures of innocent people to try and identify suspects,” said Nkonde citing the growing number of reports on databases built from scraping photos from social media platforms and phone applications.

Sean DiSomma, who advises Fortune 500 companies on combating shareholder proposals, says that the sisters are “racking up the wins.”

“More importantly,” he explains, “they’re having the conversations even now when you look at what’s going on with Amazon or with Northrop Grumman, they’re engaging on issues around human rights.”

For Sr. Daly and Sr. Mahoney, socially responsible investing is merely an extension of their mission for social justice.

And there are good reasons for companies to fear these women of faith. In recent years, they have been pivotal in changing the bad habits of corporations for the good intentions of others.

Currents News reached out to Amazon and Northrop Grumman for comment, and have not yet received a response.

Although their initial proposals have not been adopted, support for these concerns continues to grow.

Next the sisters have filed proposals to be considered at the upcoming annual shareholder meetings to raise awareness on important issues around technology, surveillance, and human rights impacts on business.

Health Officials to Americans: Prepare – Don’t Panic – Over Coronavirus

Currents News Staff

President Donald Trump is downplaying the threat of coronavirus in the United States, despite the CDC’s warning the threat will only get worse before it gets better.

“I don’t think it’s inevitable, it possibly will, probably will,” said Trump. “It could be at a small level or a larger level. Whatever happens, we’re totally prepared.”

This comes as another person in the U.S. tested positive for novel coronavirus, and that person in California could be the first patient who hadn’t traveled to the affected areas or been exposed to another known patient.

Meanwhile, many American students studying abroad are being told to pack their bags and come home. As the virus continues to spread, at least five universities have suspended programs in Italy. Other colleges have canceled their programs in China and South Korea.

“We’re still obviously kind of in shock but i’m very disappointed,” explained student Nicholas Kohler. “This is something we’ve talked about for years. This is something you get excited about. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and we’re not even halfway through. It’s been cut short. I’m pretty devastated.”

So, once they’re home, what can they — and everyone else — do to prepare or fend off coronavirus? Experts say there are some very simple, but important steps.

“Those include items like washing your hands for 20 seconds,” said Chris Meekins, former Department of Health and Human Services assistant secretary. “Most people do it less than five to 10, including not touching your face, not touching your eyes, if you haven’t washed your hands recently.”

Fist or elbow-bumps, according to experts, would be good alternatives to shaking hands while the outbreak is at its height.

Use knuckles or elbows to touch elevator buttons and door knobs instead of your fingers. Stay home if you’re sick.

Americans have also been advised to make longer-term preparations. Experts recommend thinking of it like an approaching hurricane.

“Having maybe two-weeks worth of food at home, in terms of dry goods, canned goods, frozen goods, in case for whatever reason there were to be some quarantine instituted,” said Dr. Celine Gounder of the NYU School of Medicine. “And most importantly, having a good supply of prescription medications on hand.”

Black History Month: Teaching Catholic Youth How ‘Everybody Belongs’

Currents News Staff

During Black History Month, Currents News is taking a different look at the future of race relations in America through the eyes of children. Bishop Shelton Fabre of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux in Louisiana.

His 2018 pastoral letter against racism inspired the new children’s book, “Everybody Belongs.”

Bishop Fabre is sharing how the idea to turn his pastoral letter into a children’s book came about, its message you hope it gets across, and the future for young people combatting prejudices and racism.

Catholic School Uses Science to Show Dangers of Vaping

By Emily Drooby

Students at Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Brooklyn have learned a science lesson — but also a life lesson — about the dangers of vaping.

A 2019 CDC survey showed e-cigarette usage is prevalent among young people, with 28 percent of high school teens and 11 percent of middle schoolers admitting they had recently used e-cigs.

It can also be dangerous – over 2,000 people have been hospitalized for lung issues related to vaping.

That’s where this experiment comes in. Developed by Cornell University, the Clinton Hill school is one of the first to use it as a lesson. Students use tetrahymena, a substance which mimics a living cell, and introduce it to e-cigarette vapor. The results are eye-opening.

“Until they see it, until they do it, they’re not necessarily going to believe it,” said Orlando Santiago, chair of the school’s science department.

“When we put the e-cig juice in, all the tetra stopped swimming,” explained student Robert Simpson. “The black particles also represent metal that would be bad in my lungs. So it shows how it’s bad for us.”

“The tetra actually die off,” explained Devonnie Moore, a teacher at the school. “They slow down, their speeds decrease.”

“The steps to correct it with young people is to diminish its attractiveness to use,” said Brother Dennis Cronin, the school’s president. “That’s why I think this program is very important.”

It’s a scary lesson, but it’s one students say they’ll always remember.

“I’m definitely not going to try it because it’s not healthy, it’s not good for your lung,” said student Faith Felix-Patrick

“Many people look to vaping as an alternative to smoking, but now I can prove to people that it’s not that different than smoking,” added fellow student Lawson Thomas.