Currents News for Friday, October 11, 2019

On the newscast: Vandals set off a dangerous fire on the parish grounds of a Queens church that’s experienced damage from flames before. Cops are hunting the would-be arsonists; The invasion of Syria condemned by an archbishop who knows too well the toll of war; Bernie Sanders with advice for the heart after his own medical problems; The Catholic Church is getting ready for new saints.

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Queens Parishioners on Alert After Fire Set on Church Property

By Emily Drooby

A chilling scene was caught on camera as teens set off a gas fueled fire on the side of a school.

It happened at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Academy and Parish in Corona, Queens.

The church’s pastor, Father Ray Roden, told Currents News that around 1 a.m. the teens walked onto church property, pried open the lock on a shed and stole several three gallon gas canisters.

The teens made rag pile next to the parish school, doused it with the fuel and set it all on fire.

“It was scary that it was against the school wall, that wouldn’t burn. But down below in the basement window is an oil tank,” said Fr. Roden, thankful that nearby the tank didn’t explode during the incident.

While he’s angry over the break-in, he was also worried about what could have happened to those involved.

“Standing next to a roaring bonfire with a can of gasoline in his hand, what in the world? He could have blown himself up. He could have been killed. That was chilling to me,” he said.

“I hope it never happens again. Somebody needs to sit down with them,” Fr. Roden added.

There was no lasting damage from the fire. Police are now searching for the suspects who took off after starting it, gas cans in hand.

This isn’t the first fire to happen at this parish: back 2015, a massive inferno engulfed the church, destroying the organ and much of the roof.

That fire was accidental and caused by wiring. It left a big void for parishioners like Jacqueline Zaruma.

“When the fire happened, it broke everybody’s heart because we all love the parish,” she said. Jacqueline was on hand for the church’s rededication in 2016 after Our Lady of Sorrows was restored.

With that history in mind, parishioners are wary after the latest.

“We come here every Sunday so to hear that is sad,” said fellow parishioner Ingreed Candel.

Mother Clara Maria De la Cruz, a nun with Missionaries of Mary for Faith Formation within the parish, said that despite the scary incident worshippers know where to put their faith.

“We know God can protect us,” she said.

Women Religious Speak Out on Voting in Amazon Synod

By Melissa Butz

Inside the meeting hall for the Synod on the Amazon, there are 35 women participants in various roles. At the conclusion of the first week of the Synod, women are speaking out.

Members of the religious female communities attending have stated that if non-ordained religious male communities are given a vote at the Synod, then religious female communities should be given one too.

One religious sister said October 11 that they are seeking more leadership within the Church.

At the conclusion of the first week of the Amazon Synod, women are speaking out. Sister Birgit Weiler, one of the female religious participants who works in Peru, also said that women are seeking equality both inside the Church and the synod hall.

“There is no real reason why not. When the brethren can vote, well, women religious are equal. Both have votes and are not ordained, so really it would be good,” she said.

Sr. Birgit said the idea is especially important for the Synod on the Amazon, an area where Catholicism is majority women-run due to a priest shortage.

To her, voting signifies a desire to participate in the Church’s formative decisions.

“Pope Francis already, in the last Synod made it possible, saying, it’s not necessary that only the ordination to priesthood to be able to vote when you have participated fully in the whole process of sharing faith, of discerning together,” she explained.

Yet, in the first week of the Synod, Sr. Birgit said she has found an open attitude inside the synod hall.

“We experience that we are really accepted as part of the group. There is not a clerical attitude,” she said. “There is a lot of freedom of speech and it is a beautiful experience really to discern together.”

Sr. Birgit assured that women are not interested in a power struggle, but rather in equality. This doesn’t necessarily mean ordination, but rather leadership positions in different ministries.

Despite her desire for more, she really expressed her gratitude for where women are in the Church and wanted to honor the steps taken in that direction, most especially by Pope Francis.

Pope Francis to Canonize Five New Saints

By Melissa Butz

Tapestries of the faces of the five new saints Pope Francis will name on Oct. 13 now adorn the facade of St. Peter’s Basilica.

Each of these future saints bear very different stories. Cardinal John Henry Newman has one such story. The famous intellectual and theologian was baptized Anglican, but decided to be received in the Catholic Church at the age of 45. He became a priest and worked for Catholics’ rights in England.

Four women will also be canonized, among them a Brazilian, Sister Irma Dulce. Sr. Dulce died in 1992. Her canonization is the third-fastest in history. Her spirit of service resulted in her nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1988. Many compare her to Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

Also to be canonized is Roman religious Giuseppina Vannini, co-founder of the Congregation of the Daughters of St. Camillus. She is known for her witness of charity toward the sick, poor and imprisoned.

Sister Mariam Thresia Chiramel will also be added to the list of new saints. She was born in India and founded the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family in Thrissur, a group dedicated to serving the most marginalized. She bore the stigmata, a sign of the Passion of the Lord.

Marguerite Bays, a seamstress who also bore the stigmata, will also be declared a saint. The Swiss Franciscan tertiary dedicated her life to the apostolate and to catechesis.

Military Dad Surprises Daughter in Long-Awaited Reunion

Currents News Staff

A heartfelt reunion between a father and daughter — months in the making — was caught on camera.

On October 9, Commander Kornelius Murray surprised his daughter Holly at St. Francis DeSales Catholic Academy in Belle Harbor, Queens after being stationed in Afghanistan for eight months.

Holly wasn’t sure when he would be home, but near the end of the school day her father snuck into class and took his daughter home to spend his first day back together.

Commander Murray is expected to stay with his family for the next few months.

Mother Cabrini to be Honored on Float at Columbus Day Parade

By Tim Harfmann and Allyson Escobar

MANHATTAN — It’s not a statue, but it is an honor.

The Diocese of Brooklyn will have a float of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini at Manhattan’s Columbus Day Parade on Oct. 14. The float will be two or three car-lengths long, and will include youth and adults, according to a report.

“It’s very fitting that the Diocese of Brooklyn will feature a float with Mother Cabrini. In conjunction with Futures in Education, because one of Mother Cabrini’s greatest gifts is working with the poor, children and immigrants, which is exactly what Futures in Education tries to do — we educate children and those in need,” said John Heyer, director of the diocese’s Annual Catholic Appeal and special assistant to the vicar for development.

“To have her on that float to honor and tell her story, so that others could see her as a model and celebrate her, especially on a day that we celebrate Italian-American culture and heritage,” he said.

Catholics and local Italian- Americans have publicly expressed their outrage over the snub of Mother Cabrini by first lady Chirlane McCray’s She Built NYC program that’s overseeing a project to build statues of women throughout the city.

The decision to exclude Mother Cabrini from the first phase of the project was made despite a citywide vote in August in which Mother Cabrini received the most nominations of any of the 320 women on the list. Only seven were chosen.

On Oct. 6, more than 1,000 people rallied in Carroll Gardens in support of a statue for Mother Cabrini, and the Catholic Foundation is raising money to build its own statue at Brooklyn Borough Hall.

Currents News for Thursday, October 10, 2019

On the newscast: The campaign for Mother Cabrini is now set to take over Fifth Avenue…thanks to the Brooklyn Diocese; A hero cardinal is known as the ‘Uncrowned King of Poland.’ Tonight, why he’s so important to Catholics; The news about Social Security benefits… The government is deciding the size of the checks; And a heartwarming story that you’ll only see here… Tears of joy in a Catholic classroom.

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.

Bishop DiMarzio Visits Buffalo in Fact-Finding Mission

The Tablet Staff and Currents News

PARK SLOPE — Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio visited Buffalo, N.Y., earlier this week as part of the apostolic visitation that was announced on Oct. 3.

He interviewed more than 30 individuals and plans to return for additional meetings later this month.

The Vatican had asked Bishop DiMarzio to conduct a fact-finding mission in the Diocese of Buffalo, where Bishop Richard Malone faces accusations of covering up sexual abuse of minors by priests.

Some groups have called for Bishop Malone to resign after his former secretary leaked hundreds of pages of diocesan records alleging that the bishop allowed accused priests to remain active in ministry. Bishop Malone has pledged to cooperate with Bishop DiMarzio’s investigation.

As part of the mission, laypeople and clergy, as well as members of the Buffalo Diocese’s staff, have been invited to be a part of the process so that Bishop DiMarzio can gather information from several perspectives.

Upon completion of the visitation, Bishop DiMarzio will submit a report to the Congregation for Bishops at the Vatican.

Click here to read the statement from the Diocese of Brooklyn.

While Trump Administration Bars Use of Human Tissue For Research, Scientists Are Trying To Push Ahead

Currents News Staff

On Capitol Hill, the Trump administration is barring the use of human tissue for stem cell research. Meanwhile, some scientists are trying to push ahead.

But the Catholic Church strongly opposes using the cells of unborn babies for science, and argues there’s a better way: umbilical cord research.

The National Correspondent for the Tablet and Crux, Christopher White joins us now to discuss the field of stem cell research, which has been developing for over a decade.

Indigenous Peoples Honor the Blessed Mother as a Symbol of the Amazon

By Melissa Butz

Before the Amazon Synod even began, one wooden figure had been the cause of questions and even controversy.

Amongst feather headdresses, candles and dancing, a particular figure of a woman stood out as the centerpiece during a tree planting ceremony inside the Vatican on the feast of St. Francis of Assisi on Oct. 4

A wooden statue of a pregnant young woman was presented to Pope Francis by 20 indigenous populations from the Amazon Region who are in Rome for the Synod.

It was seen again on October 7, the first day of the Synod, inside St. Peters Basilica. Now, the feminine figure can be found on display at an exhibition in a church located near the Vatican, Santa Maria in Traspontina.

The exhibition’s organizer — Father Roberto Carrasco Rojas — a missionary priest for indigenous peoples in Peru, assured that the image is very symbolic to indigenous Catholics in the Amazon.

“They carved in wood an image of a Blessed Mother, who is pregnant. She is the Virgin, and we have called her Our Lady of the Amazon,” he explained. “She represents the Amazon, because what is the Amazon? The Amazon is a woman, she is female, she has a female face. Why? Because the earth is a mother, the earth gives life. So that is the Amazon.”

He said the figure’s symbolism represents the fact that the Amazon unites countries, peoples and cultures. It cares for the people, and provides everything from modes of transportation to the food they eat.

According to Fr. Carrasco Rojas through exhibitions like this indigenous peoples hope to teach others the importance of the Amazon as a source of drinking water and a natural filter for harmful carbon dioxide output.

Its benefits aren’t only for the people in those regions, but rather for the world at large.

During the month of October, there are 247 similar exhibitions in Rome, with 60 organizations putting them on. Their mission is to share their traditions with those who don’t know them.