Catholic High School Bans E-Cigarettes, Vaping

By Emily Drooby

Within the walls of Xaverian High School, you’ll see kids shuffling to class, chatting in the hall and learning. But the one thing you won’t see is any vaping.

Students caught vaping or with paraphernalia face suspension, parent meetings, removal from extracurriculars and even expulsion from the Bay Ridge, Brooklyn school.

E-cigarettes have become a hot button topic in schools across the country as a growing number of teens seem permanently attached to the vaping devices. One in four teens have used them, according to the FDA.

“We didn’t take it very seriously at first, I don’t think anyone did. And the situation became much more dire, in that it became much more accepted,” explained principal Deacon Kevin McCormack. A year ago, the school’s approach to vaping wasn’t the case.

Seven people have already died from suspected vape-related illnesses, while hundreds others are currently suffering from lung illness associated with vaping. Still, these statistics have only stopped some kids from vaping.

Now, students at Xaverian are most worried for their friends.

“A large part of the problem is people see their friends doing it and then peer pressure kicks in. And they’re like, “If I see my friend doing it, she’s my best friend, if it’s not hurting her it’s not going to hurt me,’” explained Michael Lustri, a junior at the school.

With the new approach towards e-cigarettes in school, Deacon McCormack said that the incidents have “decreased immensely.”

“I mean you just don’t see it as much,” said Anthony Cerulli, a senior at Xaverian.

“I’ve seen people get in trouble. I’ve seen people get expelled from the school, and I’ve noticed a lot of chatter when it’s one of their friends. They’re saying ‘Oh, they got caught, we should be more careful.’ They’re cracking down, and I think it’s a good mindset to have,” explained senior Arianna Conti.

“So when you are taken off of those extracurriculars, it’s not like, ‘Oh I’m just off football.’ It’s like your off football, you’re off speech and debate, you’re off music,’” Michael said of the repercussions students face.

The fight against e-cigarettes is not specific to Xaverian. Catholic schools across the Brooklyn Diocese are joining in. Many are implementing diocesan programs that teach kids the horrors of e-cigarettes, hoping to curb the crisis.

Pope Francis Learns Results of V Encuentro From U.S. Clergy

By Melissa Butz

Hispanics and Latinos from 175 dioceses around the United States met with Pope Francis on the morning of September 18, with the goal of presenting him with the results of last year’s National V Encuentro of Hispanic and Latino Ministry.

Included in the U.S. delegation of Catholic bishops and laity were clergy from the Diocese of Brooklyn included in that list.

“We came here three years ago, talking with the Holy Father and cardinals from different departments about what we expected and wanted to do. Now we come back, telling the story of what we can do,” explained Bishop Nelson Perez of Cleveland.

The September 2018 Encuentro, which hosted 3,000 Hispanics and Latinos, was held in Texas. Themes of last year’s Encuentro included immigration, higher education, leadership formation, community outreach and evangelization.

“This process of listening, of consulting, of listening to our people, of being able to see how the Church is treating and responding to the pastoral needs of our people,” was part of the four-year study, explained Auxiliary Bishop Jose Arturo Cepeda from the Diocese of Detroit, Michigan.

On Wednesday, they told Pope Francis the excitement Hispanic and Latino Catholics have for their faith, especially youth.

Additionally, bishops shared how they are hoping to accompany these communities and form leaders and missionary disciples across the United States.

They said the next step now is for U.S. bishops to implement the pastoral plan, with the hopes that the United States becomes a nation that welcomes immigrants and likewise transforms the Catholic Church within the country.

First Catholic High School Focused on Addiction Recovery Opens

By Emily Drooby

Ms. Winnie Houk has always loved teaching, but her most difficult student was her son Joe.

Joe died from a drug overdose when he was only 24-years-old. Three years later, Winnie wishes he could have gone to a school like the one she teaches in now.

The diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania just opened Kolbe Academy, the nation’s first Catholic recovery high school working to help students stay sober.

Named after St. Maximilian Kolbe – the patron saint of people struggling with addiction – the academy costs 15,000 dollars a year and is open to students who are at least 30 days sober. The school also hosts social circles where students can make new friends in sobriety. Kolbe provides them with daily counseling and the support they need to stay clean.

The school asked Currents News not to show the faces of their students, but all the staff and teachers who walk the halls are like Winnie, choosing to teach here because of their own brushes with addiction.

Winnie is one such teacher at the new school. “You can’t put that into words. I think about him every day. it’s incredibly painful,” she said. “I am doing this as a way of honoring my Joe.”

“We all want to be here, we all have personal stories and it shows,” Winnie said.

The school community has people like Board Member Linda Johnson, whose son struggled with addiction for years. He underwent treatment 19 times before becoming sober.

“There was a moment in time where when I went to bed at night my thought was, ‘He was going to die, and I was going to wake up and get that news,’” Linda said. “When I woke up in the morning, my first thought was, ‘Okay that didn’t happen, but it’s going to happen sometime today.’”

in 2017, Pennsylvania had the third highest rate of drug overdose deaths in the country.

Across the nation, over 70,000 people died that year of an overdose, an epidemic from which even children are not exempt.

That same year, four percent of high school students suffered from substance use. Among young adults that number jumps to almost 15 percent, proving that addiction isn’t just a phase.

The experience of Kolbe’s teachers – one of creating an atmosphere of compassion, respect and deep understanding – is one they hope helps kids stay on the road to recovery.

“We’re connecting with them so that we can build that level of trust, so that they can come to us when they need support, and so that they know that we’re there for them when they need it,” said the school’s principal, John Petruzzelli.

The ongoing road to recovery is easy to fall off of, which is something Principal Petruzzelli knows all too well: in the past year and a half, he’s lost three former students to overdoses.

It’s a crisis his school is trying to change.

Kolbe is the brainchild of Dr. Brooke Tesche, who lost her godson to addiction. She’s spent the past two years trying to open the school, and says research shows that recovery high schools can keep kids from relapsing.

“Students, when they go back into the same environment, have less than a 20 percent chance of staying clean and sober but when they go into a recovery high school model. Those rates of success go to 8 percent,” Brooke, who is the diocesan Chancellor for Catholic Education, explained.

For her, Kolbe takes that model a step further by adding faith, a key component in many people’s recovery journey.

“Faith is a critical element, addicts in long term recovery they attribute their success to their faith,” Brooke added.

Faith, recovery and well-being are written into the curriculum, but also the fabric of the school.

“I think in life we all are drawn to people who have had the same experiences that we had and we gain from them the knowledge and the strength we need to help ourselves,” said Linda.

“I understand that these children are suffering. This is not something they chose to do. My son didn’t choose it, they didn’t choose it,” Winnie added. “It happened to them. They’re smart, they’re great kids, they’re funny kids, and they need people who understand them, who respect them and who want to be with them, and I do.”

This recovery success and transformation is fueled by love, support and respect.

With the opioid crisis raging in America, the Allentown Diocese hopes Kolbe can be a model for other faith communities.

The school has three students enrolled right now, but can take up to 100. It has rolling admission, which means students can join at any time.

Currents News for Tuesday, September 17, 2019

On the newscast: There are big developments in the Opioid Crisis. New York’s governor is taking on the makers of Oxycontin; We’ll have an exclusive report on help for young people battling addictions. A Catholic diocese is creating a model for the country; The Brooklyn Knights of Columbus are getting relief supplies to people slammed by Hurricane Dorian; And a student with autism finds a friend at school.

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.

Knights of Columbus Provide Relief to Survivors of Hurricane Dorian

By Tim Harfmann

The Brooklyn Knights of Columbus are on an urgent mission, putting together relief packages for those hit by Hurricane Dorian.

What’s needed most are non-perishable foods, diapers, toiletries and cleaning products.

The Knights from Saint Finbar and Most Precious Blood churches in Bath Beach, Brooklyn are collecting the supplies, and will truck them over 500 miles to North Carolina.

Dorian slammed into the state two weeks ago, dumping rain that caused flooding on the Outer Banks.

“They were getting people off the island by boat and by helicopters,” said Grand Knight Charlie Shelley.

Now, once again, the Knights are putting their faith into action.

Father Michael Gelfant is a Knights of Columbus Chaplain and the pastor of Saint Finbar
Church.

“We focus on men’s spirituality in the Catholic Church, so it’s an opportunity for them to pray, to comfort and console when they go down there,” explained Father Michael Gelfant, a Knights of Columbus Chaplain and the pastor of Saint Finbar Church.

“They meet their brother Knights who are suffering and families, so they’re part of that process; but also there’s a bonding moment. They’re doing it as a band of brothers,” he said.

“If we could give them a little relief, it’s worth a million dollars,” said Grand Knight Louis Stuto.

The Brooklyn Knights staged the same sort of drive last year, when Hurricane Florence slammed the Carolinas.

The relief effort was eye-opening, even for those New Yorkers who lived through Hurricane Sandy.

“They were hit a lot harder than we were. I mean, you had houses that were completely submerged, when we arrived in new bern, they were down to one case of water and a roll of paper towels,” Charlie recalled.

While the Knights are supplying much-needed items, the team is still looking for more.

You can drop off donations at Saint Finbar Church, located at 138 Bay 20th Street in Brooklyn.

Gifts are being accepted through Sunday, September 22.

Amazon Archbishop Backs Ordination of Married Priests

By Inés San Martín

QUITO, Ecuador – According to a Spanish missionary archbishop who’s been in Ecuador since 1998, “We must thank God that there are still prophets like Pope Francis” who think about the future.

Specifically, the bishop backed the ordination of married men as priests in the Amazon, supporting the idea of calling viri probati, or tested married men, into the priesthood to serve isolated rural communities.

Archbishop Rafael Cob of the Diocese of Puyo believes that an Oct. 6-27 Synod of Bishops on the Pan-Amazon region convened by Francis is “historical.”

On September 14, Archbishop Cob spoke with a group of journalists, including Crux, currently in Ecuador on a trip to the Amazon organized by REPAM, an ecclesial network from the region collaborating with the synod.

The prelate said that a key issue the synod will deal with is the possibility of the Church in the Amazon, which includes parts of nine countries, shifting from a “clerical institution” to a “ministerial one.”

“We must start from the Christian vocation of baptism: Laity, religious and priests from one body and one family,” Archbishop Cob argued, three weeks before heading to Rome to take part in the October synod.

This shift, he said, would allow for the ordination of the so-called viri probati so they can distribute the sacraments in communities that are so remote that they perhaps see a priest twice a year.

The viri probati, he said, are nothing new. On the contrary, Archbishop Cob said, “the Church has had them from the beginning.”

Celibacy for Latin rite priests wasn’t mandatory before the Council of Nicaea in the fourth century, when the Church decided celibacy “was convenient” so priests could better live their vocation, “but it didn’t mean that there were no other alternatives.”

“The viri probati respond to a very concrete challenge in the Amazon region, and it’s not meant to question the ordinary norm of celibacy,” Archbishop Cob said.

The Amazon, he said, presents “great geographical challenges,” in addition to a lack of candidates for the priesthood willing to adhere to the norm of celibacy because, he argued, it’s not something indigenous peoples understand. In addition, he said, the number of missionary priests willing to go to these remote areas has dropped significantly.

Asked if he believes the viri probati could be applied to other regions of the world, Archbishop Cob said the door is open, but “they will have to be able to explain why they need it, to analyze the root causes of the problem and, as Pope Francis urged, to propose bold solutions.”

He insisted the Amazonian push for married priests is not about ending celibacy, but advocating, as a reaction to the region’s very specific reality, the possibility of ordaining elderly men who are married and highly respected by the community.

Asked if he thought this could lead to a schism, the prelate said what he’s worried about is finding the best way to address the moment the Church is living right now in the Amazon.

Archbishop Cob also spoke of eagerness for a revision in the broader role of women in the Church, as in the Amazon they have been “at the vanguard of evangelization for decades.”

“Ministries such as that of the Eucharist or of the Word were seen as exclusively for men, but today you have women who are ‘extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist’,” Archbishop Cob said. “Why not make them ‘ordinary’?”

According to Archbishop Cob, the Catholic Church cannot continue to “entrust tasks to women” instead of giving them the “according institutional support” through canon law. Another example he gave is that of women today serving as “parish administrators,” a task that is technically reserved to a parish priest.

Archbishop Cob acknowledged that the Synod of Bishops on the Amazon will be important in terms of redirecting the evangelization of the region, but also when it comes to promoting an “integral ecology,” a concept Franis developed in his encyclical letter on the environment Laudato si’.

When it comes to fighting climate change, Archbishop Cob said, Pope Francis understands that humanity needs to “join forces”

The synod that will gather in Rome, Archbishop Cob argued, is not only for the region but for the entire Church, because the Amazon rain forest, and the Catholic presence in it, is a “point of reference for the planet.”

The synod, he said, will ultimately be about “life” and integral ecology as a timely response to “what we all are starting to think is a necessary change of course, a pastoral and cultural conversion.”

“When one penetrates the Amazon and sees the people who live there, the richness they have, their philosophy of understanding life and its priorities, there’s much for us to learn there,” he said.

Bishop DiMarzio Honors Big Donors to Annual Appeal

By Allyson Escobar

DOUGLASTON — Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio recognized “Court of Honor” donors to the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Annual Catholic Appeal in a celebration Sept. 14 at the Immaculate Conception Center in Douglaston.

The Court of Honor is made up of more than 2,000 donors who pledged an amount of $1,000 or more this year.

“We’d like to honor them because they really are the heart and soul of the annual appeal,” Bishop DiMarzio said. “One-third of the money comes from the Court of Honor. So they’re very essential to us making the goal… It’s very important for the life of the diocese.”

Led by the Catholic Foundation for Brooklyn and Queens, the Annual Catholic Appeal raises funds each year for programs, including vocation ministry, education, migration services, faith formation and Catholic Charities.

Last year, it exceeded its pledge goal through the successful Generations of Faith campaign.

A total of 31,733 donors — regular parishioners, those who work for the church, and a large group of priests of the diocese — contributed to the Annual Catholic Appeal 2019.

This year, Court members made up the largest (about half) percentage of giving — a total of about $8.7 million. The largest reported donation was $20,000.

“It’s an opportunity for the bishop and the staff to say thank you, and to give updates to our donors on where their money is going,” said John Heyer, director of the Appeal. “The Court of Honor has committed themselves at a certain level, and there is added responsibility on the part of the diocese to respond to those donors, to celebrate them at this reception, and hear their concerns. The Court of Honor, and all of our ACA donors, is the Catholic family.”

Pledge efforts have had a huge impact this year — an additional $1.1 million will go back to 92 parishes that have exceeded their pledge goals.

Heyer said the funds will go directly toward each church community’s needs, including renovations and programming. Last year, parishes were able to fund religious education, put up new lighting, fix air conditioning, even renovate church bells.

“The ACA is part of the greatest mission of the Gospel and of the Church,” Heyer said.

At the Court of Honor reception, Msgr. Jamie J. Gigantiello, Vicar for Development of the Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens, assured donors that they are contributing to the overall life of the diocese, and not paying for legal abuse settlements.

(More specific information and a full audit of the Catholic Foundation can be found online.)

“There are many people in our diocese who are in need, both financially, and also of God in their lives. It’s up to us to continue [to] bring the Gospel to the people, and it isn’t the Gospel without the works of the ACA. This [fund] supports all the ministries which take place in our diocese — education, the elderly, evangelization, pastoral care — without your support this wouldn’t be possible.”

101-year-old Charles Rawlins, from St. Mary’s Winfield in Woodside, is the oldest, and one of the longest supporting members, of the Court of Honor.

Rawlins says that he loves everything about the Diocese he was born and raised in, and fully supports Bishop DiMarzio and the Catholic Foundation’s efforts.

“It feels good to give,” he said.

Jane Ann McGettrick, from Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Astoria, said that the Brooklyn Diocese is “her second home.” She has contributed to the ACA’s annual goal for years.

“I have been actively involved in my parish, at my school [The Mary Louis Academy], and around the diocese for my whole life,” McGettrick said. “I feel very close to the diocese, they have many programs going on for the life of the church, and they’re as good as you can do. We have to always support the holy and blessed.”

Queens Catholic Academy Unveils New Art Classroom

Sacred Heart Catholic Academy in Bayside, Queens is helping to cultivate the next Picasso, as the school has just unveiled a new art room.

The classroom allows students to take virtual tours of famous museums like the Louvre and learn about the world’s greatest masterpieces.

Auxiliary Bishop James Massa blessed the new room, and along with some students, spoke about the new space.

After touring the art room, Bishop Massa helped to kick off the new school year with a Mass.

Currents News for Monday, September 16, 2019

On the newscast: Thousands of baby remains are found in the home of a notorious abortion doctor. Defenders of life are outraged; Police are hunting for whoever destroyed a rosary shrine at a Queens church that’s been vandalized before; An emotional memorial for a Catholic schoolgirl and her family. They lost their lives in a horrible home fire; And the Pope just gave away the bones of one of the Apostles.

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.

Rosary Stations Stolen From Queens Church in Second Robbery

By Tim Harfmann

An individual believed to be a woman dressed in all white, ripped 20 rosary stations from an outdoor shrine at St. Gerard Majella Church, in Bayside, Queens and threw them into the trash.

“Oh, it’s.. it’s a punch in the stomach!” exclaimed Father Joseph Jude Gannon, pastor of the Hollis, Queens church, while showing Currents News the damage.

The individual also broke part of the sprinkler system, and somehow managed to cut part of a metal handrail on the property.

“I would consider it a hate crime. I don’t know what the legal classifications are, but I think it’s a direct attack against Mary and against the parish and against the Church in general,” Fr. Gannon said.

The NYPD is investigating the case. They have yet to determine if the act is considered to be a hate crime.

The Queens priest believes that the church sustained over $10,000 worth of damages.

The rosary stations that were taken had been crafted in Italy, and two years ago had been dedicated in large part thanks to donations from parishioners.

The outdoor shrine was part of the “Generations of Faith” campaign, a major fundraising effort across parishes in Brooklyn and Queens to support the Brooklyn Diocese and its individual churches.

“This is an area that was developed by our people for a very important campaign. And now, we’re going to have to go back to the drawing board and regather all of these again and fix them,” Fr. Gannon explained.

This isn’t the first time the church has been vandalized.

It’s believed the same woman is behind a similar incident last week. Video footage shows the individual ripping a sign off of the gate to the outdoor shrine and tearing signs with the parish’s name from potted plants.

Yet another individual was arrested last year for stealing $4,000 worth of guitars from the church.

Marie Casimir, a parishioner who prays in the outdoor shrine as it’s easier for her mobilized scooter than going into church, was shocked to hear the news.

“That’s not good! Why do they have to do that, you know? That’s wicked! We need peace. Why do you destroy the church?” she asked.

Church property might be destroyed, but the faith of this parish is still in tact.

“Even this morning, parishioners were here praying… crying, but praying;” said Fr. Gannon, “and even though it’s a hard day, we know that we’re resurrection people and Mary is always with us, watching over us in a special way.”