Catholic school students score not only in the classroom but on the basketball court.
Noelle Polanco, a junior at Fontbonne Hall Academy, is making her way into the school’s Hall of Fame.
Last Saturday Polanco scored her 1,000th point while playing against Maria Regina High School.
She is the second and youngest Fontbonne player ever to do so.
Polanco has been playing basketball since second grade and says she plans to continue playing in college.
by Jessica Easthope
Alison Coyle knows how challenging it can be to get three kids ready and out the door. Some days it seems like there’s an endless list of worries, but when she drops her kids off at school at St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Academy, they all go away.
“It means a lot to be able to drop your kids off, go to work for the day and know they’re taken care of in all aspects,” Coyle said.
There was a time when Coyle didn’t feel like her kids’ needs were being met, especially that of her oldest — Raymond. From kindergarten to third grade, Raymond went to public school so he could get the extra support he needed for his Individualized Education Plan, something St. Stan’s couldn’t give him at the time.
“Even though he was getting services there, his grades were slipping, he wasn’t doing well,” Coyle said.
And Raymond soon realized it wasn’t the best fit for him.
“The classes aren’t big but they’re not tiny, in public school I had one class that was two teachers and 42 kids, it was a lot of kids,” he said.
This school year, the DOE saw a 17% decrease in kindergarten registration citywide compared to the 2016-2017 school year. Registration in the Diocese of Brooklyn is up 2.2% over last year.
It was COVID that forced the Coyles to make the switch. St. Stan’s principal Cathy Mangone says her school has gained 24 students, who like them, came during the pandemic and never left.
“That means they found something here that they wanted to be a part of. And that is what St. Stan’s is about, what Catholic school is about, forming those connections,” she said.
And now St. Stan’s offers the special education, occupational and speech therapy that students like Raymond need — all in the school building.
“We have that extra, added faith and we don’t want someone excluded from that because they have special needs,” Mangone said.
Raymond’s mom and principal can now say he’s thriving.
“He came here and all of his needs are being met, he’s thriving and that’s what we want to see,” Mangone said.
“He’s really thriving, he’s really doing great, it was kind of like COVID was a little bit of a blessing for my family,” Coyle said.
And Raymond thinks so too.
“It’s easier to work in a smaller environment. I like school, I’ve always liked school, I like to learn so I don’t mind coming here,” he said.
Coyle says it was the best decision she and her husband have ever made for their family.
“It was like a win, win for us, he was getting a smaller setting, he was now being able to get the extra support he needed and he’s doing so great,” she said.
With each passing day — there’s one less worry on the list.
Public Schools in New York City are seeing sharp declines in kindergarten enrollment.
Students in Catholic schools don’t only excel academically but also athletically.
Pope Francis began the new year with his traditional angelus and blessing in St. Peter’s Square.
We’ll have the story of a 96-year-old in Kansas who sends out thousands of Christmas cards every year.
Pope Francis inaugurated the new year with an Angelus on the World Day of Peace. Pilgrims from different parts of the world accompanied him in this prayer.
On this occasion, the pope shared his concern for the people of Nicaragua, where the Church is facing persecution.
“I follow with deep concern what is happening in Nicaragua, where bishops and priests have been deprived of their freedom,” Pope Francis said. “I express to them, to their families and to the entire Church in the country my closeness in prayer. I also invite all of you present here and the entire People of God to insistent prayer, while I hope that we will always seek the path of dialogue to overcome difficulties.”
Along with praying for peace in Nicaragua, Pope Francis also expressed his tireless desire for peace in Ukraine, Israel and Palestine.
The Enrichment Program Coordinator instructor, Simona Rodano, teaches Italian to the kids at Immaculate Conception Catholic Academy in Astoria Queens. But during Christmas time she turns into the “Italian Fairy” and dresses up to teach the kids how to keep Christ in Christmas while learning to sing Christmas carols in Italian.
By Jessica Easthope
Jennifer Benitez didn’t know Christmas 2022 would be her last in Bogota, Colombia.
But all it took was a split second for her to realize, it had to be.
“I try not to speak about it,” Benitez said. “It’s very difficult for me.”
That moment was when the acid started to burn the skin off her left leg. Gang members attacked Benitez with it as retaliation for her and her husband Bryan Jate telling them to stop smoking marijuana outside their home, to protect their young son Julian.
“I was walking to the grocery store and they came up on a motorcycle. I blocked my face and fell to the ground,” Beitez said. “And the man on the motorcycle said, ‘next time it’s going to be your son.’”
“It was in that moment that we made the decision to leave,” Jate said. “She spent two months in the hospital. It was very difficult for me as a husband and father.”
Now they sit in the basement of St. Matthew’s Church in Crown Heights a world away from the worries they felt at home. Here they’ve found a community and a new family.
“We feel enormous love here,” Jate said. “Everything we have is because of the church.”
The church provides food, clothing and necessities to migrants from across the city. Pastor Father Frank Black says he can’t help but find similarities between these migrants’ stories and Jesus’ story.
“Jesus’ whole story was a story of having to move from one place to the other, face the attacks of politics, live with people who were not accepting of him and his family,” Father Black said. “The lord understands, and he’s with us, and he’s blessing us too.”
Benitez and Jate said in Colombia, Christmas is colorful. There’s a lot of music and dancing, what they see around them is different. But this Christmas has already been made because no one can hurt them.
The couple does volunteer work at St. Matthew’s.
Their family and dozens of other migrants will be sharing a Christmas meal at Our Lady of Charity in Crown Heights on Christmas.
The sign outside St. Joseph Church in Astoria says “all are welcome in this place.”
Inside, churchgoers are greeted by a huge painting of Christ, above the altar.
“It is really the Christ in judgment,” said Father Vincent Chirichella, pastor of St. Joseph Church. “But also the Christ of mercy because he has a book in his hand and on the book is written come to me all you who labor and are heavily burdened.”
Father Chirichella tells Currents News it was laborers who built the original church’s wood-frame structure in 1876, many of them German immigrants.
“The name of the church, St. Joseph, was given by the bishop because of the men that worked in the Steinway music factory, and a lot of them were carpenters and laborers,” Father Chirichella said. “They worked on this church so he came up with Joseph the carpenter.”
Parishioners are still working on the church. the current one, built in 1906.
The Germans moved on. Now Hispanics, some Italians, and others fill the pews.
“The people that worship here make it special, very loving, very caring, very giving,” Father Chirichella said.
People like Marlene Kaselis, the resident wreath-maker.
Kaselis makes every wreath by hand to decorate the church for Christmas.
She says she’s not an artist, she gets her creativity from God. “I’ve had some interesting things happen in my life and some of them have been difficult and I truly believe that if it was not for my faith, I would have gone off the deep end,” Kaselis said.
This is her way of saying thank you.
And when Christmas is over, her work, and that of her volunteers, isn’t.
“All of a sudden it was like well now it’s Easter,” Kaselis said. “We have to do something for Easter. Then you take down Easter, well now it’s summertime, now it’s autumn you have to make decorations, it just happened!”
Whatever the season, Father Chirichella said Kaselis is ready to be put to work.
“She’s always there, always there to lend a helping hand,” Father Chirichella said.
And Kaselis said she wouldn’t change a thing.
“It’s nice, you know it’s nice that the Church looks pretty,” Kaselis said.
Decorating the church isn’t the only thing Kaselis does for St Joseph Parish.
The former lector and religious ed teacher also runs the food pantry.
Now you know Marlene Kaselis from St. Joseph and how she makes up the Pulse of the Parish.
In tonight’s Pulse of the Parish, we introduce you to the resident wreath maker at St Joseph’s Church in Astoria.
The Tablet is now more than halfway to its goal for its Bright Christmas campaign.
You can see a bit of Christmas in Times Square thanks to a new billboard.
Something worse than the Grinch has ruined Christmas at St Helen Church in Howard Beach, Queens.