Facing Closure, Greek Orthodox Church’s Virgin Mary Weeps

Currents News Staff

An alleged act of divinity has gone viral.

Parishioners in a Greek Orthodox church that is facing bankruptcy are claiming that an image of the Virgin Mary held in their church was weeping.

Church leaders are taking notice and trying to remove the icon to get it authenticated, but the worshippers are against the move.

“The metropolis of Chicago asks the faithful to remain vigilant and also reminds them that while it is indeed possible to experience the divine through temporal objects, our faith rests not on ‘signs,’ but on Christ crucified,” read a statement by church leadership regarding the weeping icon.

Parishioners say they haven’t given up hope and will continue to fight to keep their church and the image of the Blessed Mother.

Court Allows Trump Administration to Bar Asylum-Seekers for Now

By Carol Zimmermann

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The Supreme Court issued an unsigned order late Sept. 11 that will temporarily allow the Trump administration to enforce its new rule preventing many Central American migrants from seeking asylum in the United States, while the legal battle over this issue continues to work its way through the courts.

The order temporarily reverses a recent lower court ruling that had blocked the administration’s rule, which would deny asylum to anyone who traveled through another country while on their way to the United States without first seeking asylum in that country.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit had blocked the government from implementing the new rule in Arizona and California, but now it can be enforced across the country while the administration appeals a decision by a federal judge in California to the 9th Circuit and, if necessary, seeks a final decision on this issue from the Supreme Court.

Although it is not clear how soon the administration’s policy can fully take effect, government leaders lost no time praising it on social media. “BIG United States Supreme Court WIN for the Border on Asylum!” President Donald Trump tweeted after the court’s order was announced.

Ken Cuccinelli, the acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, also called the decision a big win and pledged on Twitter that his office “will commence implementing the asylum rule ASAP.”

The nonprofit group Hope Border Institute, based in El Paso, Texas, said the court’s decision reflects “a disturbing pattern that emerges when the Supreme Court starts using its power, however temporarily, to greenlight Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda.”

In a Sept. 12 statement, it said the “human impact of this decision will be devastating to thousands of refugees who see the possibility of safety, security and freedom at our nation’s border and will instead now be greeted with cold disdain.”

As in other instances when the court grants or denies temporary relief, the justices did not explain their decision or how the justices ruled. A requirement for a stay is that five judges must rule in its favor. The order noted the dissent of Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor.

In late July, the Supreme Court also issued an unsigned order saying the Trump administration could use $2.5 billion in Pentagon funds to pay for construction and repairs of a wall along the U.S-Mexico border. The order overturned an appellate court decision that froze the funds for border wall work involving building and replacing fencing and other projects in California, New Mexico and Arizona.

Sotomayor, in her five-page dissent in the Sept. 11 order, said the administration’s ban on asylum-seekers “topples decades of settled asylum practices and affects some of the most vulnerable people in the Western Hemisphere” and comes at a time when the stakes for asylum-seekers “could not be higher.”

She also criticized the high court’s decision to step in on this issue, stressing: “granting a stay pending appeal should be an ‘extraordinary’ act.”

“Unfortunately, it appears the government has treated this exceptional mechanism as a new normal. Historically, the government has made this kind of request rarely; now it does so reflexively,” she added.

The administration’s rule: “Asylum Eligibility and Procedural Modifications” was published July 15.

In a public comment filed Aug. 15 with the Executive Office for Immigration Review, a group of more than 250 faith leaders and organizations called the rule a “a backdoor asylum ban” and urged the administration to end it.

“The rule fails to understand or acknowledge the realities of asylum-seekers’ journeys and the lack of options they have been left with,” said the leaders. “No one flees their home or country by choice.”

“For those passing through Northern Triangle countries and Mexico, applying for asylum and waiting for a decision from a country that has little or no ability to process such claims may put the asylum-seeker at further risk of harm,” the faith leaders said.

Among the Catholic organizations that signed on to the comment were Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc., the Cabrini Immigrant Services of New York City, the Capuchin Franciscan Province of St. Mary, Pax Christi USA, several diocesan and archdiocesan Catholic Charities agencies, several orders of women religious and individual religious sisters.

Indiana Priest Offering ‘On The Go’ Confessions

Currents News Staff

An Indiana priest has thought of a way to get more people to take part in what he says is an important sacrament, confession.

Confession is a blessed sacrament allowing Catholics to admit to their sins and receive forgiveness.

It’s also something many Catholics are afraid of, and often avoid.

In order to keep up with the ever changing and growing community, Father Patrick Baikauskas and St. Thomas Aquinas are taking confessions to go.

“If this is a really important sacrament, let’s show it. Let’s get out where the people are, where the students are. Take this golf cart out and do confessions on the go,” said Father Patrick.

If you see Father Patrick and are interested in confessing, all you have to do is wave him down.

“Pope Francis said we’re supposed to smell like the sheep. Smelling like the sheep means you’re not going to stay in that church and wait for all the people to come to us. Pope Francis wants us to go out to the people and experience them right where they are,” said Father Patrick.

He’ll perform a traditional face-to-face confession, assign you a penance, and you’ll be on your way.

“We want to honor our traditions, but we don’t want to be traditionalists. We don’t want to be so stayed and so off-putting that we get stuck in the traditions without recognizing how we can bring them to people in a new way,” said Father Patrick. “I think Jesus Christ would be thrilled to see us doing something like this.”

Father Patrick says he plans to drive the campus every day. Meanwhile, Saint Thomas will still offer its confessions for those looking for privacy twice a day.

America Remembers: Living with 9/11 Illness

By Tim Harfmann

Eighteen years later, September 11 is an emotional day for NYPD Lieutenant Chris Phelan.

“It’s a very solemn day and a day of remembering,” he said. “Everybody says we’ll never forget.”

Chris attended a ceremony at Manhattan’s 24th precinct, where he remembered those who lost their lives on 9/11, but particularly thinking about those who have died from related illnesses — like his older brother, Thomas.

The 45-year-old lost his battle with lung cancer in March 2018 caused by breathing in the dark cloud of debris.

On 9/11, Thomas was steering ferries as a captain for the Circle Line.

When the nation came under attack, he sailed toward Lower Manhattan.

“He assisted with the FDNY in bringing personnel over to Ground Zero, then helping with the evacuation,” said Chris.

Thomas transported hundreds to safety as part of one of the largest evacuation efforts on record.

Two years later, the ferry captain became a firefighter, serving nearly a decade before becoming a pilot in the marine division.

But in January 2018, Thomas fell ill. What he thought was a just a cough turned out to be cancer.

“It was unbelievable when somebody that healthy would get cancer, that we automatically thought he’s going to beat this,” Chris added.

Thomas was a devout Catholic and attended Mass at St. Michael’s Church in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. That is also where his funeral was held.

Through his illness, Thomas had faith.

“I think it did help him. I think it did keep him strong. I’m sure he had times of doubt or worry; but I think he handled it better than all of us,” said Chris.

But just as Thomas had faith — now Chris has faith.

As a rookie police officer, Chris worked on ‘the pile’ in the months following 9/11.

He’s worried about his health and goes to the doctor every six months.

“It’s definitely something that’s in the back of my mind every day. Maybe if my brother didn’t pass away, maybe it would be less,” Chris said of the post-9/11 illness.

But he continues to serve in the NYPD, knowing Thomas is watching over him.

“I do have faith that I’ll see him again, and I definitely know he’s in heaven.”

Currents News for Wednesday, September 11, 2019

On the newscast: America remembers –tributes taking place around the nation. It has been 18 years since September 11, 2001; Cancer continues to devastate New Yorkers who were at Ground Zero. The story of one family whose 9/11 never ended; A border diocese needed help –so Brooklyn came to the rescue; A hug for a toddler who rode out Hurricane Dorian. Find out how you can help the victims.

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.

Brooklyn Diocese Aids Migrants at Southern Border

By Emily Drooby

The U.S. southern border with Mexico is in crisis.

While migrants are hoping to find refuge in America through asylum, some immigrants are trying to enter into the country illegally.

There are so many people flooding the gates at the border that some are being released while their cases are still being processed.

Left on their own, these families are getting help from Catholic Charities.

This summer, a team from the Brooklyn Diocese went to Arizona to assist in setting up a new facility called “Casa Alitas” that would make a difference for the migrants.

“They were not offered hygiene products, they were not offered showers, they would take their shoelaces off, kids were barefoot coming out of essentially these buses that would look like something out of Rikers, these were not criminals,” said Richard Slizeski from Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens.

“They were being treated like criminals,” added Richard, who along with fellow volunteer Belkys Checo, made the trip from New York to work alongside others at the border.

Now back home, they’re sharing what they’ve heard from asylum seekers who endured dangerous journeys.

“In the night they had to do fire bombs to keep the coyotes and snakes away from them, many of them didn’t sleep,” explained Belkys.

The Casa Alitas center is a place of solace after those difficult trips.

Artwork filled the walls and toys filled the floor at the center. There, families are given everything they needed — from a hot meal, to a change of clothes or car seats.

“It was beautiful being able to just say, ‘Come here, I’ll give it to you. What else do you need?’” said Belkys.

As Monsignor Alfred Lopinto of Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens explained, the caring Catholics are giving asylum seekers the things they need to feel welcome and at home.

“It’s giving them another experience, and it’s an experience of real welcome, showing them that opportunity is going to be here for them because there is a caring community that is willing to adopt and embrace them,” Msgr. Lopinto said.

Following the teachings of Christ to always welcome the stranger, these volunteers are helping others have faith in the future.

Aftereffects of 9/11 Reach Mississippi

By Wandy Felicita Ortiz

MANHATTAN — Earlier this year, when Kate Baragona was diagnosed with cancer, she was stunned. But the news was also a reminder of how far-reaching the effects of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorists attacks continue to be 18 years after the fact.

As New Yorkers remembered the horrible events of 9/11 this past week, Baragona reflected on her own story of how the aftermath of the attacks has hit her personally.

Kate Baragona, 60, a mother of two adult children, now lives in Mississippi. She used to work for Citi Global Markets on Greenwich Street in lower Manhattan before and after 9/11, breathing the toxic air from the debris that remained after the attacks. She missed the attacks themselves, because at the time the two planes struck she was in her car driving to work from her home in New Jersey.

Fast forward 17 years to last October, when Baragona was making the hour-plus drive from her home in Poplarville, Miss., to New Orleans to see a doctor about what she thought would be a routine knee-replacement surgery.

“You have to have a general physical before the surgery, and I went to a doctor I had never been to before in Louisiana,” Baragona said. “We did all the tests beside a mammogram, which he made me promise that I would come back for.”

When she returned to a hospital in New Orleans post-surgery for the mammogram, the results didn’t match up to those from a mammogram she had had the previous year. She was then required to have two more mammograms and an ultrasound.

The tests revealed that Kate had a form of breast cancer that required surgery to remove. She had that surgery this past February. Afterward, a lump began to form on the same leg as where she had her knee surgery.

Tests revealed Baragona had two types of breast cancer, plus a form of cancer in her leg.

“How is it that a person gets three types of cancer in a flash?” she asked.

Baragona’s doctors in Louisiana tried to treat her cancers aggressively and contemplated amputating her leg. They didn’t know that her cancers were related to 9/11.

Meanwhile, Baragona sought referrals for treatment at leading cancer centers across the country. One of those places was Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan.

“Within six hours of the referral, Memorial Sloan Kettering said that they would call me back on Monday. That was on a Friday. On Monday, they told me that I had an appointment scheduled for Thursday,” she said, meaning she would have to fly to New York on short notice.

Doctors at Memorial Sloan Kettering are more familiar with rare cancers, and are not surprised that Baragona’s cancers were related to her time working near Ground Zero post-9/11.

According to Michael Barasch, an attorney whose firm has represented thousands of clients suffering from 9/11-related illnesses, 425,000 people have faced adverse effects of the post 9/11 pile, including 300,000 office workers. Baragona is one of them.

“Those people are what I like to call the ‘forgotten victims,’” Barasch said.

“I had no symptoms. It was confusing,” Baragona said. If it wasn’t for her knee surgery, she never would have known she had cancer caused by working near the disaster zone.

“Ten years or 18 years later, why would you ever think it was due to your exposure years earlier? You wouldn’t,” Barasch said. Baragona, who moved to Mississippi in 2014, now must go to New York for evaluations and mammograms at Memorial Sloan Kettering once every six months.

Meanwhile, she takes a daily pill that administers a low dose of chemotherapy.

Her healthcare in New York is being covered by the World Trade Center Health Program.

Since 2011, more than 21,000 survivors who lived or worked in the area of Ground Zero between Sept. 11 2001 and May 2002 have enrolled in the program.

Fewer than 100 survivors enrolled in the program are from Louisiana, where Kate received her initial medical treatment, having no idea at the time how 9/11 had affected her.

New Memorial to 9/11 First Responders a ‘Monument of Sensitivity,’ Priest Says

By Christopher White, The Tablet’s National Correspondent

NEW YORK — A new addition to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum that pays tribute to the first responders, survivors, and their families who have continued to suffer from the attacks is being praised by faith leaders as a sign of “continued hope” emerging from an event known for its devastation.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed during the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, but by 2024, it’s estimated that more individuals will have died from exposures to toxins and other hazardous materials during the resulting recovery efforts than from the attack itself.

For that reason, on May 30 of this year – the 17th anniversary of the official end of the recovery effort at the World Trade Center – the Memorial unveiled the latest installation, known as the Memorial Glade, designed to pay tribute to those who continue to suffer and to the memory of those who have died since the attacks.

Father Brian Jordan, a Franciscan friar who was present at Ground Zero on the day of the attack – called the Glade a “monument of sensitivity” and a “stroke of genius,” recalling that he’s celebrated numerous funerals for Catholics who have died from 9/11 causes in recent years.

Each year when the anniversary rolls around, the names of those that died from the attacks are read aloud and remembered in a public way. The Memorial Glade, now a permanent part of the Ground Zero site, is a way to ensure that those who have gone on to die from illnesses related to the attacks are remembered as well.

“I imagine I’ll be having more funerals in the near future,” he told The Tablet, insisting that it’s important to memorialize all of the victims who died from that day’s attack, even if they didn’t die on the day itself.

“The Memorial Glade has been an outstanding tribute and the living reminder that we cannot forget, not those who died that day, but those who have died since that time and those who are dying at this present time,” Jordan continued. “We have to remember them because they served and they’re giving the ultimate sacrifice for our country as well.”

Jordan became a regular presence at Ground Zero during the recovery efforts, leaving his midtown Manhattan parish and running directly toward the scene of the attack to bless bodies in the immediate hours after the towers fell.

He would go on to spend many weeks there and is remembered by recovery workers for the work he did to save what is now known as the Ground Zero cross – a cross-like beam that was discovered in the debris from the towers.

As many firefighters, police officers, and family members of victims were asking “where was God after 9/11,” Fr. Jordan said he pointed them to that cross. “God is in that cross. This is a sign of hope,” he told them.

The cross would go on to face legal challenges from outside groups opposing its religious symbolism, but it ultimately prevailed and is now in the 9/11 Museum in what Fr. Jordan says is a reminder to everyone of “God’s overwhelming love.”

He believes the Memorial Glade is yet another physical reminder of the importance of memorializing not only that day’s events but also the continued loss stemming from it. As a clergy member, he says he can’t help but recall the role that ministers have played along the way.

“This was very personal for us,” he said, noting that many of the victims from the day of the attacks and since then were Catholic.

“The role of faith in response to the attack on the World Trade Center is something that’s really very important and central to understanding the response,” echoed Amy Weinstein, director of collections and senior oral historian of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.

“It’s not something that always rises to the surface, but there were pastors, ministers of pretty much every faith down here from the beginning and throughout the nine months of the rescue and the recovery,” she told The Tablet, noting that ministers need to be remembered as part of the first responders.

For Weinstein, the new Memorial Glade – which includes six large stones, ranging from 13 to 18 tons each – is yet another way of literally cementing the efforts of those recovery workers and giving them a permanent presence at the site.

Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, who has served as a chaplain to the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) since 1999, concurred saying that nearly twenty years later, all faith traditions are still grappling with loss – but seeking new ways to find hope.

Part of that hope, he says, has been found in the solidarity of people of all faiths that were attacked that day and have faced ongoing loss.

“Even though I’m described as the Jewish chaplain of the FDNY, 9/11 transformed all of us into being chaplains for everyone because when we were there and bodies were found and body parts were found, nobody asked is this a ‘Jew’?”

“We were all there together. I stood with a reverend, with a monsignor, with an imam. All the people who participated from different faiths became one family,” he continued.

Looking ahead, he said the Memorial Glade is yet another way of remembrance, but one that isn’t simply concerned about the past alone.

“Remembrance is something that all of our faith traditions stress,” Rabbi Potasnik told The Tablet. “Remembrance is an integral part of our faith. But it’s not enough to remember.”

“The question is then what are you going to do after you remember?” he continued. “Because you remember you have a responsibility to make sure that others who may be in a similar predicament are given strength and support.”

FDNY Teaches Students Fire Safety Following Blaze in Queens Home

By Tim Harfmann

On September 10, the FDNY paid a special visit to Holy Child Jesus Catholic Academy in Richmond Hill, Queens, to teach students about fire safety.

Students walked through a mobile smokehouse and navigated through theatrical smoke to see what it would be like in a real fire.

“It was, like, pitch black and I was super scared,” said Sierra Suknannan, a student at the school.

“I think the children needed, not only to review the rules and procedures, but to feel safe themselves after what we’ve just gone through,” said Patricia Winters, principal of Holy Child Jesus Catholic Academy.

A fire ripped through a Richmond Hill home July 21, killing 51-year-old Silva Umana and two of her children: 19-year-old Gilbert Diaz and seven-year-old Guadalupe Perez.

Only Silvia’s 15-year-old son, Gabriel Diaz, survived.

Guadalupe was a student at Holy Child Jesus, preparing to enter second grade.

According to the FDNY, a damaged air conditioner cord caused the blaze. There were no working smoke detectors in the home.

On Tuesday, New York’s bravest stressed how smoke alarms are the difference between life and death.

“You might get hurt and you might not survive,” Sierra learned.

“It’s for our safety and to survive fires,” explained Aydan Padilla, another student.

According to the FDNY, 88 people died in New York City fires last year. In two out of every three fires, there were no working smoke alarms to be found.

Lieutenant Ryan Gorecki travels with the FDNY’s Fire Safety Education Unit, teaching students about the dangers of fire and smoke.

“In a real fire situation, it’s black. We can [hardly see] in front of our face,” he said. “So what we’re trying to teach them is that your hands now become your eyes,” Lt. Gorecki explained.

Just as students were able to find light at the end of a dark, smokey hallway, they’re also finding light through the dark tragedy of losing a classmate.

“They’ve been told that should they have a day where they’re feeling sad or they’re afraid, all they have to do is ask the teacher; and they can come down and we’ll get somebody to speak with them,” Winters said.

Holy Child Jesus will hold a memorial service on Friday, September 13, where they’ll plant a tree and release balloons in honor of Guadalupe and her family.

Currents News for Tuesday, September 10, 2019

On the newscast: An exclusive report on Catholic kids walking through a smoke-filled room for a lesson about the importance of smoke detectors; A well-known Catholic institution in New York is devoted to caring for abandoned babies. They’re now bigger than ever; The latest from the Bahamas as an archbishop there gives us an eyewitness account; Is a painting of the Virgin Mary weeping because a church could soon close?

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.