Trump Decries Christian Persecution, Calls for Religious Freedom

By Christopher White

NEW YORK — President Donald Trump called out world leaders who advocate for tolerance while failing to support people of faith during a historic gathering on religious freedom at the United Nations on Monday.

“Too often people in positions of power preach diversity while silencing, shunning, or censoring the faithful,” the president said. “True tolerance means respecting the right of all people to express their deeply held religious beliefs.”

Trump’s presence at the event marked the first time a sitting U.S. president had convened such a gathering at the United Nations, where he said that advocating for religious freedom remains one of the “highest priorities” of his administration.

During his 12-minute keynote address, the president said that religious freedom is a fundamental building block for any “peaceful, prosperous, and virtuous society.”

“America stands with believers in every country who ask only for the freedom to live according to the faith that is within their own hearts,” Trump said.

He noted that 80 percent of the world’s population live in areas where freedom of religion is threatened or restricted, adding that 11 Christians a day are killed because of their faith.

“Who would even think that’s possible in this day and age?,” Trump asked.

The president also announced that his administration would be allocating another $25 million dollars toward religious freedom initiatives and protecting religious sites and relics. In addition, he revealed the formation of a new coalition of U.S. businesses aimed to encourage respect for faith within the private sector

In a room full of world leaders, diplomats, and survivors of religious persecution, the president paid tribute to a range of high profile victims of religious persecution in recent years, including Father Jacques Hamel, an 85 year old French priest who was killed by Islamic extremists while celebrating Mass in 2016; the victims of recent shootings in Pennsylvania and California by anti-Semitic gunmen; and the massacre of over 50 Muslim worshippers at two New Zealand mosques earlier this year.

Monday’s speech came on the heels of the Second Annual Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom sponsored by the U.S. State Department, which brought together more than 1,000 representatives from civil society and religious groups and more than 100 different foreign government delegations in July. The gathering was billed as the largest religious freedom event in the world. In tandem with the Ministerial, the president also hosted nearly 30 survivors of religious persecution at the Oval Office.

Also in attendance for the meeting were Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Vice President Mike Pence, who called out the Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, for “practically waging war on the Catholic Church” in his introductory marks for the gathering.

The president’s 3-day visit to New York comes at a time when he is engulfed in scandal over allegations that he asked the Ukraine government to investigate political rival Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, for business dealings in the country. On Monday, he told reporters that his phone conversations pertained to rooting out corruption within the country.

Following his remarks, the president was expected to hold individual meetings with a range of world leaders, including President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand, Prime Minister Imran Khan of Pakistan, President Andrzej Duda of Poland, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore, and President Moon Jae-in of South Korea.

Among the world leaders present at the United Nations this week is the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who is leading the Holy See’s delegation to the General Assembly. He will take part in high-level meetings on health care, climate change, human trafficking, and the persecution of Christians.

United as One: Diverse Parish Includes Fast-Growing Community

By Tim Harfmann

A diverse parish in Flushing, Queens gathered for a special dedication September 22.

Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio blessed the parish’s school under its new name: Saint Michael’s Catholic Academy.

It was Most Holy Redeemer. The new name was approved by the state starting this school year.

The Queens school is made up of Catholics speaking many languages.

“It really shows the universality of the Church,” said Bishop DiMarzio. “It’s a new Pentecost; our diocese is the new Pentecost. Everybody, different languages, different cultures. They’re all united in one Church.”

That universal Church was on full display at Mass.

“This is like a big melting pot,” said Veronica Tsang, a parishioner.

Part of the pot is the Chinese community.

Of the nearly 300 students at St. Michael’s Catholic Academy, about 60 percent are Chinese. And that number is growing.

“We want to encourage Catholic families, Chinese families to send their children to our school and enjoy a religious education in a safe environment,” said Tsang, who serves on the Board of Directors at the Flushing academy.

Chinese Catholics are one of the fastest-growing communities in the Brooklyn diocese, making up at least 10 percent of those newly baptized each year.

“The Chinese people are embracing the faith, young people especially. They come, sometimes, without any religion,” said Bishop DiMarzio.

“Chinese people are deeply spiritual; and for historical circumstances, historical reasons, that has not been allowed to develop,” said Father John Vesey, St. Michael’s pastor.

They come to the parish to develop that faith.

Sister Binlin Ruan teaches faith formation classes, preparing Chinese Catholics for the sacraments. She recalled two students reconnecting years after immigrating from China.

“’I know you! it’s my classmate!’ They met here together. Oh, it’s amazing! They met in the church,” she said.

In the church, Bishop DiMarizo also blessed part of the sacristy, where sacred vessels and vestments are kept. It caught fire over two decades ago.

The parish plans on completing the sacristy, along with other renovations so it can feel like home for everyone.

Catholic School Students Band Together in Call for Climate Action

By Emily Drooby

Demands for action to prevent climate change rang through lower Manhattan on the afternoon of September 20.

Held ahead of a UN summit on climate change, many of those calls to action came from students — including those from the Brooklyn Diocese.

With the help of the Sisters of St. Joseph, students from their four locally sponsored schools traded in their textbooks for posters and attending Friday’s climate change rally.

“Because at the end of the day, it’s powers in numbers. It’s like I want to come out and support everybody, support what I believe in,” explained Jeuel Calhoun, a student at St. Joseph High School in Brooklyn.

For Isabel Merat and other teens from The Mary Louis Academy, fighting climate change is engrained in the fabric of their school.

“I’m going to Mary Louis. We advocate for change when it comes to the environment, like we are so involved: we have a garden, we do neighborhood clean-up. We take that very seriously, and I’m here protesting with my school trying to make a difference in the environment,” she said.

Climate change is also an issue close to Pope Francis’s heart.

In Laudato si’, the Holy Father’s second encyclical, he discusses the importance of caring for our common home. A quote from Laudato si’ graced the backs of the Sisters of St. Joseph’s matching rally shirts.

For Sister Helen Kearney, the congregation’s president, it’s an issue not only close to their hearts, but one they pass on to their students.

“In 2015 our congregation unanimously passed a land ethic with all of our goals to sustainability. Those same efforts are being taught in our schools. So it’s really important for us to nurture these women, empower them to make changes in this world because we are at the brink of disaster,” Sister Helen said.

The students are grateful not only for the lesson, but also for the congregation’s support.

“I find it really amazing how everyone just supports us,” said Rachel Guillen, a student at The Mary Louis Academy. “The school in general, it’s just a family, and I’m really glad they came here with us.”

Currents News for Friday, September 20, 2019

On This Newscast: Catholic school kids on New York CIty’s streets to protect what Pope Francis calls “our common home.” It could be a miracle when a Catholic martyr’s blood liquefies. Deadly floodwaters inTexas amid a record number of named storms. Mayor de Blasio pulls the plug on his presidential campaign. A major retailer takes e-cigarettes off its shelves. The Diocese of Brooklyn’s links to new Catholic Cardinals.

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.

While Hosting Australian Leader, Trump Faces Questions on Relationship With Ukraine

Currents News Staff

President Trump and the First Lady hosted the second state visit of the administration, welcoming the Prime Minister of Australia to the White House on Friday, September 20.

“I don’t think we’ve ever had a better relationship than we have right now,” said Trump.

According to the White House, the visit was intended to highlight the strong ties between the two countries and their common interests, among them North Korea and China as the U.S. continues to negotiate a trade deal.

“They have grown and they’ve become a substantive economy in the world. And once you sort of get into that level, then you need to able to be playing to the same rules as those other developed nations,” said Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia.

Trump also announced new sanctions on Iran’s central bank on Friday, in the wake of an attack on a Saudi oil facility that the U.S. has blamed on Tehran.

“They could solve the problem very easily,” said Trump. “All they have to do is stop with the terror.”

In the midst of hosting one foreign leader, President Trump also faces questions on a whistleblower complaint regarding communication with the leader of Ukraine.

“It’s a partisan whistleblower, shouldn’t even have information. I’ve had conversations with many leaders, they’re always appropriate,” said Trump.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on the Director of National Intelligence to send the information on the complaint to Congress as, she noted, the law requires.

New York Doctors Meet With Pope on Value of Healthcare

By Melissa Butz

Pope Francis met with 600 doctors from New York on September 20. The medical professionals work with an organization named “SOMOS Community Care” which serves patients who lack access to basic resources.

Mario Paredes, the Chief Executive Officer of SOMOS, introduced Pope Francis to the group’s leader.

“For me, it is an honor to present to you, the founder, the creator of this movement that was generated in the city of New York to renovate the health system in our city, Dr. Ramón Tallaj,” he told the Holy Father.

“We execute our vision and mission by rescuing the traditional role of the primary physician, family doctor, or ‘general physician,’ the neighborhood doctor,” Ramón told Pope Francis. “The recipients of our service are the immigrants, the poorest and most vulnerable people in New York, who have come from the most diverse corners of the globe.”

The pontiff thanked them for their personal commitment to patients, both in disease prevention and in treatment.

“This solidarity with the sick is a real treasure, and it is a distinctive sign of authentic health care and assistance, which puts the person and his needs at the center,” he told the group. “Today, healthcare is recognized as a universal human right and as an essential dimension of integral human development. Even so, in the world, it is still a right guaranteed to few and forbidden to many.”

As a gift for the visit, they gave Pope Francis a stethoscope.

Among the meeting’s attendees were actor Benicio del Toro and Argentine pianist Raúl di Blasio.

“It’s an incredible experience. Pope is hope. Pope is hope,” Benicio said. “I’m here with SOMOS. Coming here with a bunch of doctors, people that really work hard to help the needy in New York. So I’m here with them.”

“I didn’t have the opportunity to speak to the pope. It was important just being close,” said Raúl. “I would have loved to have been able to offer to give a concert to youth through that wonderful cause he has. There will be another chance. It was a truly wonderful experience.”

“He showed how he identifies with the needy, what he calls the ‘throwaway culture,’” Ramón explained. “He mentioned them three times in his speech. When you are with a person like him, it touches everyone’s heart, because he helps you see the drama of human poverty.”

Pope Francis was at ease with the doctors. In addition to greeting those responsible for the initiative, he stopped for a while to personally greet the doctors and their families.

Priest Heroes Of The Titanic

In this special edition of All Things Catholic from New York City, Joe Estevez discusses the priests aboard the Titanic who ministered to the passengers on the sinking ship. Discover why they are overlooked in the numerous films about the doomed ocean liner. Also, the Titanic’s historic connection to St. Paul’s Church in Brooklyn. Guests: Msgr. Joseph Nugent and actor Dan Roebuck.

New York Religious Leaders Call for Closure of Rikers Island

By Christopher White

NEW YORK – New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan joined with religious leaders throughout the city on Thursday to call for the closing of Rikers Island, saying that one of the nation’s most notorious prisons “has got to go.”

At a press conference outside of the New York Supreme Court, the cardinal said the prison complex, one of the largest in the nation, goes against the values of the gospel and American values of “fairness, hope, and justice.”

“God has told us Jews, Christians, members of Islam to bring compassion, mercy, and justice to those who are incarcerated,” he said.

In a nod to President Ronald Reagan’s Berlin Wall Speech, Dolan said “in the name of God, let’s tear down this place.”

Dolan was joined by Brooklyn’s Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, auxiliary Bishop John O’Hara, executive director of Catholic Charities Monsignor Kevin Sullivan, Rev. A. R. Bernard of the Christian Cultural Center, Rabbi Joseph Potasnik of the New York Board of Rabbis, and other members of the Commission of Religious Leaders (CORL), which serves as an advocacy body on issues related to poverty, racism, homelessness, and “a breakdown of moral values, family structure and other social institutions.”

In a collective statement, CORL said the need to close Rikers was a “moral imperative.”

“The life and dignity of the human person, made in the image and likeness of God, is a principle of our faiths, and must be applied to all. The conditions found in Rikers Island robs the imprisoned of their dignity, denies them justice, and deprives them of mercy,” they said.

Rikers Island – a four hundred-acre island in the East River amidst Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx – has repeatedly come under scrutiny in recent years for overcrowding and its brutal treatment of inmates.

The prison currently houses just under 10,000 inmates and according to a 2013 report in Mother Jones, has one of the highest rates of solitary confinement in the nation. A report that same year by the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene documented 129 cases where beatings of inmates led to “severe injuries.”

In 2017, New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio announced that he intended to close the prison within the next ten years, opening up a number of regional jails in New York’s boroughs to house its current inmates, an undertaking expected to cost over ten billion dollars.

While admitting that as religious leaders, they are not “pros in the intricate details,” Dolan said that “we are experts in the protection of human dignity and the common good of the community that we love and cherish.”

In addition to visiting inmates, Dolan said that it’s often religious leaders who are on the front lines in supporting families of prisoners and helping to support them once they are released after serving jail time.

He also said the current costs of Rikers was another practical reason to support the prison’s closing, arguing that it’s “contrary to common sense to spend billions of dollars on a complex that doesn’t work and happens to worsen things.”

Earlier this month, Pope Francis spoke out about the need to offer prisoners the “right to hope,” and called for an end to the practice of life without parole.

In an audience with guards, chaplains, and volunteers from the Italian Ministry of Justice, he said “If you close hope in a cell, there is no future for society.”

He then addressed inmates directly, saying “Never let yourselves be imprisoned in the dark cell of a heart without hope; don’t give in to resignation. God is bigger than every problem and he is waiting for you in order to love you.”

Currents News for Thursday, September 19, 2019

On the newscast: She’s already caused a Queens parish more than twelve thousand dollars in damages. The church vandal strikes again; Top faith leaders have a plan to close Rikers Island once and for all; An organization is reaching out to people with Alzheimer’s and delivering life-sustaining meals; Mother Cabrini got the votes but they didn’t count. Now people are set to march in her honor.

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.

Outdoor Shrine at St. Gerard Majella Targeted a Third Time

By Emily Drooby

A statue of the Blessed Mother has been the latest target of a criminal who’s caused damage to the Church of Saint Gerard Majella in Hollis, Queens twice before.

As seen in a new surveillance video, the woman in question tried to knock the statue to the ground but couldn’t topple it over.

The church’s pastor, Father Joseph Jude Gannon, is worried that the attacks on his parish are getting worse.

“She seems to now seems to have a pattern and fixation with mary and with us in particular, but it is something that’s very scary because it does seem to be an escalation going from signs, to the rosary icons and then to Mary herself,” Fr. Gannon explained, referring to the other times the vandal caused damage at the church.

A church security camera recorded the first attack two Sundays ago, when the woman ripped down a large church sign and tore the parish’s name from potted plants.

Then, before dawn this past Monday, she went after rosary stations in the same outdoor shrine where the Virgin Mary’s statue is located.

About 20 of the stations were totally destroyed, and the broken pieces tossed into the trash.

The vandal also ripped out parts of the church’s sprinkler system and a stairway handrail.

Fr. Gannon estimates the vandal has caused more than 12,000 dollars worth of damage, and hopes the woman will be safely caught before anything else happens.

Police have also increased patrols in the area, and wanted flyers have been put up in the neighborhood.

Toni and Adam work next door to the church, were disgusted to hear about the latest incident.

“It’s disgusting, Fr. Gannon tried to beautify the neighborhood. The neighborhood is growing. And to see someone do that it’s like a hate crime, against him, the neighborhood, and the church,” Toni said.

“He really did an excellent job. Especially if you would have seen the way it looked before the parking lot, he redid it, he made a little park for the kids to play out here because there’s really nothing out here for them, and they’re just destroying it,” Adam explained.

Rose Dunn, a parishioner at the church, is disappointed the woman targeted the statue.“That’s terrible that’s why I say, ‘I pray to the Lord they catch her,’” she said.

It’s not the first time this church has been targeted. Another individual was arrested for stealing thousands of dollars worth of guitars from the church last year.

Fr. Gannon says despite these attacks, faith in the parish remains strong.