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Phone Scammer Strikes Again, This Time Posing As Brooklyn’s Bishop

By Emily Drooby

John Quaglione, the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Deputy Press Secretary, got what looked like a text message from Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio asking for a favor.

“I cautiously responded and asked, ‘how can I help?,’” Quaglione said.

With the knowledge that someone had already tried scamming Catholics in the Diocese, he was on high alert.

According to Quaglione, the texts asked “for 300 dollars worth of gift cards in 100 dollar denominations for a person suffering from cancer in a hospital, and they go on further in the message to ask me to pray for the person.”

That text, and others, are all fake.

Currents News first reported on the scam two weeks ago, when at least one person was swindling thousands of dollars from the faithful by posing as local pastors.

Now the con artist is upping the ante by posing as Brooklyn’s beloved Bishop.

“Very unfortunate,” said Bishop DiMarzio of the incident. “You feel terrible that people are harassed like this, and some might even believe it. It’s very much a shame.”

At least six churches have been targeted, including Saint Rose of Lima in Rockaway Queens, Saint Helen in Howard Beach, Incarnation Church in Queens Village, Our Lady of Perpetual Help in South Ozone Park, Saint Clare in Rosedale, and Saint Fortunata in East New York.

John Heyer is the Director of the Annual Catholic Appeal, a campaign conducted in every parish of Brooklyn and Queens, where people donate money. He said parishioners should be aware that this kind of text is unusual.

“We don’t send out texts and ask you to then donate things like gift cards,” he warned.

Heyer also explained that parishioners would only receive a text if they sent one first, signing up for an annual Catholic Appeal notification.

“Then you would receive a response to the Annual Catholic Appeal donation page, where you can give your donation, which is completely secure.”

Vatican Women’s Magazine Hires New Editorial Board

Currents News Staff

After the 11-member editorial board of the publication Women Church World quit late March, a new board has been selected, which already published their first magazine in May.

Rita Pinci is the new coordinator of the Vatican’s L’Osservatore Romano women’s magazine, ‘Women, Church, World.’ She was selected to head a new 14-member staff as a well-known female Italian journalist. She said there is room to grow, and the sky’s the limit.

“The newspaper will be done according to our experience, according to what we think, our point of view,” said Pinci. “Also based on our ability, because probably some things we can do better, other things worse. But we won’t have any specific limits to the arguments we’ll cover.”

She also identified that one of the main advantages of this new staff is its diversity. The new board includes women who are Catholics, Muslim, Jewish, consecrated women and non-believers.

Pinci said some have children and others don’t, but one aspect they all have in common is their belief to encourage women.

“I was a feminist and I’m still one,” Pinci confirmed.

“I drew closer to this feminist movement 18 years ago when I came to Rome to study at university. I’m a feminist, but not a separatist. I think we have to work together, men and women. Because before we are classified by gender, male or female, we are people.”

Pinci said feminism has helped her confront problems, instead of being afraid of them. It has also brought to light many topics or thoughts that women have, that she would like to cover in this magazine.

“The feminine theme is also the center of debates inside the Church. This pope, the Pope is extraordinary, was the first to propose the problem of the feminine question within the Church.”

Pinci believes the problem within the Church isn’t necessarily women’s power, but rather a lack of recognizing women in their roles. That is what she hopes to do as this magazine continues the legacy that began more than seven years ago.

Using Feet To Defeat Pediatric Cancer

By Tim Harfmann

Members of the Xaverian High School community, took the disease sternly and in stride during a fundraiser on Saturday, May 18.

Thomas Guardavaccaro was diagnosed when he was eight years old. Now 14 and a freshman at the Catholic school, he described the pain cancer caused his family.

“It was a very difficult time. It put me and my family into a very negative place, but we bounced back and now everyone’s really happy,” said Thomas.

Nearly 300 people walked two miles along Brooklyn’s shoreline to raise over $20,000 for Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center — the place Thomas says saved his life.

“The event really means a lot to me that Xaverian, as a community, is coming together to raise money for other kids battling for their lives.”

The Catholic school also sold t-shirts, bracelets, and headphones for the cause.

Caitlin Mullin, a junior at Xaverian, was diagnosed when she was in first grade and also received treatments at Sloan Kettering. “Doctors found a tumor in my eye, so I had to go through two years of chemotherapy at Sloan Kettering. So, when I heard about this event at my school, I was actually so excited,” said Caitlin because it was an opportunity for her to share how the pediatric ward eased her suffering. “It really makes all the kids feel like they’re at home. It makes them feel so welcomed, and it makes their experience so much easier and more comfortable.”

According to the American Cancer Society, over 10,000 children are diagnosed each year — a growing number in recent decades. After accidents, cancer is the second leading cause of death in children ages one-to-fourteen.

Deacon Kevin McCormack, principal of the Bay Ridge school, said hosting the event expressed Catholic values; “It made so much sense. What we’re all about is that we build the Kingdom of God in everything that we do. Whether it’s in the classroom or the things we do personally, that’s important in what you expect from us. But we also have to give back.”

Giving back by putting one foot in front of the other and fighting for a cure.

To End Christian Persecution, We Must Preserve Religious Freedom

Currents News Staff

Bombing after bombing have been occuring around the world, just part of the most recent pattern of attacks against modern-day Christians.

This already makes 2019 the bloodiest year yet for believers.

Officials around the world agree: the persecution of Christians is nearing genocide.

Knox Thames, the U.S. Special Advisor For Religious Minorities, says religious freedom is one of the most violated liberties in the world, especially in Iraq.

In the birthplace of Christianity, the faith is facing extinction.

Since the United States-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein’s regime, the Christian community there has dwindled from 1.5 million to less than 120,000.

Despite the fact that the Islamic State terror group has been defeated in the country, the Archbishop of Erbil, Bashar Warda, believes there is still a fear stopping Christians from coming home.

They fear that the Islamic State will return and attack again.

“One of the oldest churches, if not the oldest church in the world, is perilously close to extinction,” Archbishop Warda said. “Those of us who remain must be ready to face martyrdom.”

Pascal Warda, a Christian and former minister in the country echoes his concerns.

There are still members of the Islamic State in hiding.

Archbishop Warda accuses the world’s leaders of “political correctness,” saying many will not speak out for Christians for fear of being labeled Islamophobic.  

Executive President of Aid To The Church In Need International, Doctor Thomas Heine-Geldern, is an expert on issues surrounding the global persecution of Christians.

National Correspondent for The Tablet and Crux, Christopher White spoke exclusively with Doctor Thomas Heine-Geldern on the matter.

Former Navy Chaplain: Always Remember Those Who Fight For Country

By Tim Harfmann

As he turned the pages of old photo albums, Father Joseph Ceriello looked back on his time in the Navy, while still thinking of today’s sailors.

“Every day since I’ve left active duty, I think of the men and women who are still on ships that are deploying, who are training,” he said.

Father Ceriello enlisted in the Navy Reserve for two years after being ordained in 1978 and later became a chaplain — ministering to thousands of Catholics serving the United States.

“In many, many places I was the only priest,” he said, “so you’d be constantly making sure the spiritual needs of everyone were being met, but especially Catholics.”

Those needs included celebrating daily Mass, hearing confessions and just being there to listen to sailors.

“They might be homesick, they might be confused, things might not be going right, and everything is just more on the surface,” he said of how those deployed have a different emotional experience than their loved ones back home.

Father Ceriello was deployed for short stints from Norfolk, Virginia to the Mediterranean during the late 1980s. The Brooklyn priest returned home and was assigned to Saint Anselm Church, Bay Ridge.

Years later, he wanted to go back to the Navy.

“I missed that camaraderie, that type of service to young people.”

After serving in Japan in the late 1990s, Father Ceriello returned to Virginia.

He was aboard the U.S.S. George Washington on September 11. The ship was docked in Virginia and called to New York’s harbor.

“I remember all of that night that we were steaming up to New York, fighter jets were landing on the deck,” he recalled.

Father Ceriello watched as sailors answered the call in a time of need.

“It’s amazing how these young men and women are so well trained, that going into that mode of using that training just comes naturally.”

Now pastor of Queen of All Saints Church, Clinton Hill, Father Ceriello said the upcoming Memorial Day is a time to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice — while honoring the sailors of today.

“Keeping those young people in mind, so that we’re not remembering them on Memorial Day but all the time, is important for all of us.”

Currents News for Thursday, May 23, 2019

The American fight over abortion is the dominant topic at a Vatican summit on the sanctity of life; Rescuers are scrambling to save more lives tonight after a violent swarm of tornadoes slams into the American Heartland; When teachers pose for high school yearbook photos, they touch off a big controversy; And girls at a Catholic high school are in an uproar when they’re told what they cannot wear.

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Brooklyn’s Auxiliary Bishop Receives Prestigious Honor

By Emily Drooby

On May 23, among a sea of St. Francis College graduates, was a bishop.

Brooklyn’s Auxiliary Bishop Octavio Cisneros was invited the school’s graduation to give the invocation, and also to receive an honorary degree.

He was thrilled to receive a Doctorate of Humane Letters, and also to share the stage with so many successful young people.

“Everybody is enjoying, and I know that it means a lot for them,” Bishop Cisneros said.

“It means a lot for all of us in the Diocese of Brooklyn. They’re the future, it’s the future of the Church, it’s the future of our city and our country. Men and women who are educated but who, also have in their hearts the love of God, faith.”

When he was just a teen, Bishop Cisneros arrived in the United States through Operation Peter Pan, a Catholic humanitarian effort that brought thousands of unaccompanied minors to the country from Cuba.

He thrived in the U.S. earning a Masters degree in Divinity from Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, Long Island. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1971, eventually growing into an influential Catholic leader.

Bishop Cisneros was thrilled to see students from all over the world graduating from St. Francis, “to share with others who are from Brooklyn and Queens, the immigrants, those who have come to this country to obtain a better life for themselves, who want to get ahead, who want to educate.”

He was also happy to share the moment with students like Amal Hawari, a DACA recipient from Venezuela and the graduating student who delivered the ceremony’s welcome address.

“Today we should realize that regardless of how much the odds are against, us nothing is unachievable and we all get to write our own history,” Hawari said to the crowd.

Hawari and many other students credit St. Francis College for their success, including Co-Valedictorian Arianna Sartzetaki.

“I have had a really great support system especially at St. Francis, through various faculty and administrators that really pushed me to be where I am today,” she said.

Now, over three hundred graduates will ready to take on the world with their new degrees.

Vatican Hosts Conference On The Right To Life

Currents News Staff

As the debate for the right to life is continuing around the world, the Vatican is voicing its opinion with a conference called ‘Yes to Life!’

On May 23 the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life held the two-day conference, inviting speakers from around the world to speak on the right to life.

Conference topics including palliative care, prenatal hospice, abortion and euthanasia.

Two of the event speakers were Byron Calhoun, a specialist in Maternal and Fetal Medicine, and Mary Carroll Sullivan, the Chief Health Care Ethicist at the Archdiocese of Boston.

They especially spoke of the current, vocal abortion debate in the United States.

“If you look scientifically, life actually does begin scientifically at conception,” said Calhoun. “Perhaps that’s the biggest discussion that we can come to, at this point, in the scientific facts, not just the emotion on both sides.”

“When we look at this rash of legislation, you just have to ask yourself, ‘who is pushing this’ and why we’re being told that it’s a good thing for women,” said Sullivan.

“I’m here to say, as a nurse, it’s not been done and not been done for a reason,” she explained. “It strikes me that there’s so much potential danger to a woman to have to kill and then remove a baby that is full term. That is something that I won’t get too graphic here.”

The speakers did not only express a desire to protect mothers and children, but those who could have their life ended with euthanasia.

“We have examples in some countries where euthanasia is used for children and also for adults. Laws have been made in a quasi-legal manner,” said Giuseppe Noia, Founder and President of Il Cuore in una Goccia, or The Heart In A Drop, an Italian organization established in defense protection of maternal and fetal health.

“The result of this is a reversion backward. Management of the final phase of life is often done with the approximation and unimportance,” he said in regards to the practice of abortion.

The conference presented the Catholic Church’s belief to uphold the dignity of life by expressing the importance of those children born with serious illnesses. They desire that every person in his or her dignity has an opportunity to grow in love, in reciprocal care and in unity with others.

It was not only the ethical, faith aspects of safeguarding life that were brought up, but scientific facts presented evidence backing up each of the points presented, which is much more credible when enacting laws around the world.