Bishop DiMarzio Welcomes Newcomers at Rite of Election

By Tim Harfmann

Aehee Hong and her teenage son, Terrence, walked to greet Brooklyn’s Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio. They, and hundreds more, are taking the final steps along a journey into the Catholic faith. “I’m so blessed. And I feel very thankful to God,” said Hong. They participated in what’s known as the ‘rite of elections.’ They all underwent an extensive period of instruction about Catholicism in anticipation of joining the Church in time for Christ’s Resurrection.

Bishop DiMarzio described their ultimate goal that will be reached at the Easter Vigil; “These are people that wish to be Baptized and to be Confirmed and receive their first Eucharist at Easter.”

During the Rite of Election, the future Catholics declared their intention to become members of the faith; and the Church made its election of them to receive the sacraments. Hong is an immigrant from South Korea. She is following the example of her sister Teresa, a full-fledged Catholic who died last year. “All I could do is pray to God. I couldn’t do anything else but pray to God. I just felt God calling me,” said Hong.

Hong and her 15-year old son, Terrance Rim, gained a lot from their efforts at Catholic formation. “Every day we practice. We sit at the dinner table. We practice prayers. It’s great experience. We learn together,” said Rim.

At the rite of election ceremony on Sunday, March 10^th, were people who will be Baptized when they enter the Church this Easter. They are called ‘catechumens.’ Bishop DiMarzio spoke to them and explained that keeping their conversion strong is the work of a lifetime. “Sometimes we see people are converted, but it doesn’t last very long. So, I will continue to remind them of that. This is a lifetime commitment, and we want you to continue with your process of conversion that takes time,” said Bishop DiMarzio.

This Easter, a large number of ‘catechumens’ will start their lives of catholic faith. Ninety-seven are children and 466 are adults — a total of 563 catechumens. There’s also another group called the ‘candidates.’ They are people who’ve already been baptized and want to enjoy the full life and sacraments of the Church. There are 457 Catholics who will be Confirmed and receive the Eucharist at the Easter Vigil and 76 are Christian converts to Catholicism — totaling 533 candidates.

Theodore Musco, Secetary of Evangelization and Catechesis, heads up the faith formation work done in the Brooklyn diocese. “They have relatives, friends who are Catholic already. And they invite them to participate in the life of the Church. So, we’re very fortunate to be able to then support them with the programs we have here in the diocese,” said Musco.

Hong and Rim will be welcomed into the faith during the Easter Vigil at their parish of Saint Robert Bellarmine Church in Bayside, Queens. “Just in case something happens to me, I want my son to get Confirmation, like me, so he can believe in God and he becomes strong. If something happens to me, he will still have a God because God is forever.”

The Easter Vigil celebration is on Saturday, April 20th.

Currents News for Friday, March 8, 2019

A Catholic priest is fighting to preserve 19th century Catholic history but new construction could seal it off forever; Dangerous streets in Queens… and what’s being done to protect pedestrians, including those walking to church; A chilling video that every parent should see when a kid crawled into a cooler; An update on the teacher who forced a 9-year old to wipe away his ashes on Ash Wednesday.

Today’s top news from the Catholic perspective anchored by Liz Faublas. Currents News airs Monday through Friday at 7:00 p.m. ET on NET-TV (netny.tv)

City Tackling Traffic Danger Near Queens Church

By Emily Drooby

Marianna DiVittorio and her son Leonard make the daily seven-minute trek from their Astoria home, to Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, where she has been a lifelong parishioner. It’s a walk that’s filled with fear.

Leonard DiVittorio, explained, “Depending on the time of day, it can be very harrowing to experience.”

That means crossing 21 St., which the church’s pastor, Monsignor Sean G. Ogle, V.F., says locals consider dangerous.

“It’s tremendous traffic,” Monsignor Ogle said. “There weren’t enough traffic lights. It’s a big bus route as well as a truck route but at the same time we have people living here.”

Marianna learned this first hand while crossing the busy roadway.

“I stopped because of this car trying to make this turn and I fell into the middle of the street,” she said.

Marianna credits God for saving her from being hit or killed during the terrifying accident, which left her with a deep worry for others.

She explained, “I expect another disaster, and I don’t want to see it, we came too close.”

This incident happened 20 years ago but the DiVittorios say despite added traffic lights, the street has gotten worse.

Leonard said, “It’s getting to be a very, very, very dangerous situation. We have been fighting for lights on 21st street since we have been living on that side of the street which is way over 45 years.”

That fight has started to work. Mayor Bill DeBlasio announced 21st St. between 50th Avenue and 20th Avenue to be a street the city will target for an upgrade to the city’s Vision Zero program.

During a press conference, Mayor DeBlasio, said, “We got to a point a few years ago where the number of traffic fatalities was almost as many as the number of murders in New York City.”

21st St. in Astoria, one of several new streets across New York City picked as priorities because data showed they were dangerous.

Those streets will have their traffic signal light timing changed to reduce speeding and to give more time for people to cross. The roadways will also be targeted for future projects like speed cameras and beefed-up police enforcement.

Residents have hope. Leonard said, “I am very happy that they have finally recognized something along these lines.” Monsignor Ogle added, “We’re hopeful about these changes and we are watching what else they might want to do in the future after that.”

The traffic signals are supposed to change by the end of this year the other actions could take a few years.

Currents News Inspires The Next Generation

By Currents News Staff

Today was career day at Nazareth Regional High School in Brooklyn. Currents News anchor Liz Faublas, along with Tablet youth reporter Melissa Enaje, spoke to some of the students this morning and shared their experiences in journalism.

Also Currents News reporter Michelle Powers spent the day at her alma mater, Fontbonne Hall Academy, for International Women’s Day. She inspired the young women by sharing her personal experience as a successful professional woman.

Teacher Suspended For Making Student Wipe Away Ashes

By Currents News Staff

An update on the story that sparked outrage after a teacher forced a young student to wipe his Ash Wednesday cross from his forehead. The unidentified teacher has been removed from the classroom and put on administrative leave. The student’s grandmother said 9 year old William McLeod was left crying and embarrassed after he heard the teacher’s order.

“The teacher walked over and said like ‘what is that?’ And I was like ‘it’s Ash Wednesday and I’m Catholic. It’s the first day of Lent’ and he was like ‘no it’s inappropriate go take it off’,” William later said.

The Salt Lake City school later had a deacon re-administer William’s ashes. The teacher has since apologized.

Priest Fights to Preserve Catholic History

By Tim Harfmann

Construction workers are erecting a new, eight-story building. When they’re done, a historic wall would be covered forever. It’s the facade that remains of the Catholic chapel that was part of the Saint Joseph Orphan Asylum, which opened its doors to children in 1898.

Over the years, many changes occurred at the site but the facade stayed. Now the Spence School, a private institution for girls, is building a multi-million-dollar athletic facility. “Having a school will make this a livelier block. I see the value of that,” said Father Boniface Ramsey. He is the pastor of Saint Joseph Catholic Church, which is located blocks from the site. Father Ramsey fears the athletic building would block the orphanage wall entirely saying “as long as the Spence School building is there, the facade is going to be obscured.”

According to a Spence School official, a plaque will be installed to honor the orphanage, plus there’s going to be a display inside the athletic building’s entrance. Father Ramsey had other ideas; “I asked whether the Spence School could put up a window so you could look at the facade from inside the school. Did they have to build a school so close to the facade?”

Though the new center won’t damage the wall, Father Ramsey stressed the history of the orphanage which was part of his parish. Saint Joseph Church still keeps baptismal records of the orphans from the 1800s. “Parents are listed where they know the names of the parents, and where they came from is also listed. Many, many from Germany,” said Father Ramsey.

Residents who live around the site now had mixed reactions. Matthew Haines approved the plans the school has in place. “This facility was part of that history and to remember that history, in some way, is a very nice thing,” said Haines. But George Prado, another neighbor, said more needs to be done. “That’s not enough. This is a really important structure. The work they did was incredible,” said Prado.

Father Ramsey said he wished passersby could see the facade forever, but he’s just glad the school will acknowledge the history of the orphanage. No word yet on when the new athletic center will be completed.

Bishop DiMarzio on Preparing for Christ’s Resurrection

My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

As Lent begins so does the 40 days of preparation to celebrate the Pascal Mystery. Forty days of preparation to celebrate the Pascal Mystery. Each year, our Holy Father, Pope Francis and his predecessors, have given a Lenten Message to the faithful. The theme for this year is “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God” (Rom 8:19). This passage taken from the Letter to the Romans reminds us that we are on the journey of life. It is a journey toward eternity. Each Lent becomes a mini pilgrimage which leads us ever closer to our own encounter with God in eternal life. Each year, we are called upon to make our preparation more serious.

St. Augustine, in his commentary on the Gospel of John tells us that “We are destined to die and we do everything we can to avoid death. We cannot say the same for our efforts to avoid sin, despite the fact that we are called to eternal life.”

Yes, Lent is a time of preparation: for Easter and for eternal life.

The Lenten program each year is outlined in the Gospel. This year, our Holy Father puts it distinctly by saying the following: “Fasting, that is, learning to change our attitude towards others and all of creation, turning away from the temptation to ‘devour’ everything to satisfy our voracity and being ready to suffer for love, which can fill the emptiness of our hearts. Prayer, which teaches us to abandon idolatry and the self-sufficiency of our ego, and to acknowledge our need of the Lord and His mercy. Almsgiving, whereby we escape from the insanity of hoarding everything for ourselves in the illusory belief that we can secure a future that does not belong to us. And thus to rediscover the joy of God’s plan for creation and for each of us, which is to love Him, our brothers and sisters, and the entire world, and to find in this love our true happiness.”

Pope Francis also tells us that “Unless we tend constantly towards Easter, towards the horizon of the Resurrection, the mentality expressed in the slogans, ‘I want it all and I want it now!’ and ‘Too much is never enough’, gains the upper hand.”

This Lent, I would suggest that we concentrate our prayer, fasting and almsgiving on two important events that have recently occurred. The first is the recent expansion of the abortion law in the State of New York, the so-called Reproductive Health Act. Soon you will receive information at your parish about a program called “40 Days for Life.” This will give us an opportunity to concentrate our prayer, fasting, and giving of alms, in order to promote the value of life from conception to natural death. During this time of Lent, we can visit and pray at abortion clinics with the groups who do so in our diocese, particularly the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants. The schedule for the month of March and April is as follows:

Saturday, March 23, 7:30 am Mass at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs in Forest Hills followed by the praying of the rosary and praying at a nearby abortion clinic
Saturday, March 30, 7:00 am Pro-Life Mass and Witness at Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Jamaica
Friday April 5 & Saturday April 6, 7:30 pm – 9:00 am, Pro-Life Overnight Prayer Vigil at St. Leo’s Church in Corona
Saturday, April 13, 7:30 am Mass at St. Mary’s in Long Island City, followed by the praying of the rosary and praying at a nearby abortion clinic.

Also, our almsgiving can be directed towards the organizations which assist pregnant women to bring their baby to full term such as the following:

Bridge to Life

Website: www.thebridgetolife.org

Email: [email protected]

Life Center of New York

Website: www.lifecenterofny.org

Email: [email protected]

New Beginnings Center of Hope

Website:www.mychoicepregnancyservices.com

email: [email protected]

Hopefully, we may all take this seriously.

On the other hand, the recent scandals that plague our Church regarding the sexual abuse of minors will also be an opportunity for us to offer our prayer and fasting so that truth and justice will prevail. The hope is that victim-survivors can be helped in finding healing and not allowing this to become a stumbling block to their faith. When the full truth is known, we can better understand this sinful situation in which the Church finds itself and recognize that “Where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more.” (Rom. 5:21).

Yes, it is so important that we recognize the presence of the Lord in our lives. In 2002, at the height of the beginning of the sexual abuse crisis, I was visited by a mother superior who was bringing some Sisters to minister in my former Diocese of Camden. As we were speaking, Sister said that she wanted to share with me the fruit of an elderly Sister’s prayer from that morning. “Because she knew I was coming to see a bishop, Sister approached me and said, ‘Whenever the pruning takes place, the vine dresser is never closer.”

How true this is. We are in a time of pruning, a time when we must let go of the high opinions we have had of certain priests. We recognize that the Divine Dresser, Christ Himself, is never closer to us than He has been during these times. We should feel abandoned; however, we must recognize that the Savior is here to save us at all times, especially when we most need Him.

This year during Lent, as we put out into the deep longing for eternal life and the celebration of the Pascal Mystery, we recognize that our journey is one in which we must be engaged, one for which we must prepare. If we were going on a long journey, as St. Augustine tells us on his meditation on St. John, “We prepare ourselves spectacularly for a short trip, but how are we organizing our timeless final voyage?”

Currents News for Thursday, March 7, 2019

On the newscast: Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens are being hailed as heroes. We’ll tell you the reason for the honor; Updating a Currents News exclusive on the struggle for some to get to a subway platform as new action is being taken; The latest on a Catholic journalist seized by the military in Venezuela; The backlash over a teacher forcing a young student to wipe the ashes from his forehead on Ash Wednesday.

Today’s top news from the Catholic perspective anchored by Liz Faublas. Currents News airs Monday through Friday at 7:00 p.m. ET on NET-TV (netny.tv)

Catholic Charities Named Brooklyn’s ‘Heroes of the Month’

By Tim Harfmann

Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens was called heroes by Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. “The wonderful thing about it is it reaffirms the work we do every day, which is to meet the needs of people where they’re at,” said Richard Slizeski. He’s part of the Catholic Charities group. This time, the agency came to the aid of federal workers locked out of their jobs — and paychecks — for more than a month by the government shutdown. That earned Catholic Charities Brooklyn’s recognition as Heroes of the Month. “They went and sought someone that was not on their radar and said, ‘Hey, we’re here for you to get you over this turbulent period,” said Adams.

Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens operated two special food pantries, one in each borough. Nearly 600 workers shopped supermarket-style for everything from food to toiletries. “Watching mother and child go from station to station, looking for their daily essentials, was truly touching. Just seeing the families really put a face to the problem,” said Joanna Shkreli. She is a member of the Catholic Charities group. Catholic Charities also handed out vouchers to people for gasoline and to shop at local supermarkets. They also distributed Target gift cards.

Shkrelli said today’s honor made a big impression; “It was a really emotional day filled with hope.” Although Adams honored Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens for coming to the aid of furloughed workers, he also said the agency makes a difference every day in the lives of thousands. “That’s so important. It’s often ignored. We did not want to ignore it, and we wanted the rest of Brooklyn and the city to know about it,” said Adams.

“It’s gratifying and it reminds me that we have to look around and see who the most vulnerable in our community is, and we’re here to help them,” said Jennifer Smith. She is also part of the Catholic Charities group.

For more information about Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens, go online to ccbq.org.

Feds Say MTA Must Add Elevators When Updating Stations

By Emily Drooby

Subway accessibility problems often prevents Brooklyn family, the Hallocks, from traveling far.

Sarah Hallock, explained, “Other moms are saying, ‘Oh, I want to go to the park that’s a little farther away and I’m thinking, I can’t do anything except what’s right outside my door.”

Sarah and her husband Sasha have one son who uses a stroller and another who can’t walk on his own. They say, at too many stations there’s no safe way to access the platform, so they do without it.

Sasha Hallock said, “We’ve learned to navigate the city without public transportation, and we don’t rely on public transportation as a family, we just can’t do it.”

Subway accessibility problems, a reality for many. A 2018 report from the city comptroller’s office shows that only 24 percent of the 472 subway stations citywide are accessible by an elevator.

Now a new federal court ruling is giving some, like Valerie Joseph, who works at Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled, hope.

Valerie Joseph, access-a-ride advocate, explained, “It’s going to be a big win for us, and that means they listened to us.”

The court’s decision came after a Bronx subway station was renovated, including updates to the stairs, but still didn’t have an elevator, a violation under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Valerie Joseph, said, “It’s unfair, because as I always say, we are people.”

Now the MTA is now on notice, anytime a subway station is renovated, an elevator must be installed, no matter the cost, unless it’s technically impossible.

Joseph Rappaport, the executive director at the Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled, calling this an important case. He explained, “What this case does is makes it clear to the MTA…if you’re going to replace stairwells if you’re going to put in new stairways, you’ve gotta make sure that the station is made more accessible as well.”

The center is in court against the MTA, suing in two cases about elevators.

We reached out to the MTA for reaction to the ruling, they told us quote, “The MTA is steadfastly committed to improving access throughout the subway, with a hard and fast goal of making 50 additional stations accessible over five years. We’re not wavering from that commitment.”

Adding that they take their accessibility responsibilities very seriously.

There are alternatives to the subway for people with disabilities like, access-a-ride, a service for those who can’t use the subway or ride a bus, but not all advocates are fans, some calling it difficult to use and unreliable.