On the newscast: U.S. Bishops pray at a special retreat over the sex abuse crisis; A Queens parish celebrates the return of a stolen statue of the baby Jesus; Haitians of the Brooklyn Diocese celebrate 215 years of independence from France; A 9-year old donates his life’s savings to a Christian shelter.
Today’s top news from the Catholic perspective anchored by Liz Faublas. Currents News airs Monday through Friday at 7:00 p.m. EST on NET-TV (netny.tv)
Currents News Staff
Crux editor, John Allen, speaks with Currents News anchor Michelle Powers about the resignation of the Vatican Director and Vice Director.
Currents News Staff
President Trump’s first cabinet meeting of the year was convened around a table with a centerpiece: a Game Of Thrones related image with the words “Sanctions Are Coming.”
He had tweeted this image in November about Iran sanctions, but sat today in front of a printed version.
Iran is a much different country than when I became President,” said Trump.
But the dominant topic of the meeting was about the border wall.
When asked whether he would accept any less than his five-billion-dollar demand, in order to re-open the government, Trump said “rather not say it, could we do it for less, so insignificant.”
And on how long the shutdown would last he said, “it could be a long time, and it could be quickly,” depending on how the border security debate shakes out.
The issue was also mentioned by many of his cabinet members, including Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, and acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, one of the new faces in this meeting.
He’s the acting Attorney General until the Senate goes through a confirmation process for the nominated AG, William Barr.
Other people in acting roles are David Bernhardt in for Ryan Zinke, and Patrick Shanahan in for James Mattis.
“The threat is real. The risks are real. We need to control our borders,” said Shanahan.
Mick Mulvaney is still the Budget Director, but is now also acting Chief of Staff, with John Kelly leaving.
A permanent replacement has not yet been named and is not a position that requires Senate confirmation.
Currents News Staff
As Vatican communications is continuing to be revamped in its 5-year reform program, 2019 is starting out with an unexpected change at the Holy See Press office.
Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of the Director and the Vice Director of the Holy See Press Office, Greg Burke and Paloma García Ovejero. In turn, he appointed Italian Alessandro Gisotti, as the new Interim Director. Both Ovejero and Burke were the first papal spokespersons from outside the Vatican, coming in as professional journalists from COPE, Fox News and Time Magazine. They assumed their positions in July 11, 2016.
Announcing the decision on New Years Eve, American Greg Burke tweeted about his time at the Vatican, saying: “The experience has been fascinating…” and “At this time of transition in Vatican communications, we think it’s best the Holy Father is completely free to assemble a new team.”
Spanish Paloma García Ovejero also sent out a tweet in Spanish translating to: “Ending a chapter. Thank you, Holy Father, for these two and a half years! Thank you, Greg, for your trust, your patience and your example.”
While the exact motivations are still unclear, speculations include the fact that they reported to Card. Pietro Parolin, instead of directly to Pope Francis. This limited their ability to report the pope’s messages with accuracy.
This morning Alessandro Gisotti spoke to journalists thanking them for their support. He also apologized in advance for errors he might commit coming into the new role, appreciatively noting that Burke and Ovejero spent all of New Year’s Day training him in the new position.
By Tim Harfmann
A baby Jesus statue is back where it belongs tonight, in the manger, after it was taken away from Mary’s Nativity Church in Flushing.
“It was a Christmas miracle,” said Father Ed Kachurka.
He’s the church’s pastor and showed Currents News the surveillance video of the theft.
It captured an individual, believed to be a woman, running past the church Saturday night. She climbed up and crawled into the nativity scene, causing damage to the infant’s statue.
“They must’ve leaned on it or flopped on it and crushed the actual manger that’s underneath the Christ child,” said Kachurka.
About fifteen minutes later, the individual reappeared from the nativity scene holding the baby Jesus sculpture. The person jumped down from the display and walked around the church property.
At one point, the person walked past the nearby shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary, where worshipers often donate flowers and religious icons.
“There was a statue of Joseph there and in the course of the individual moving around on the property with the baby Jesus, the Joseph statue was moved and ended up being in front of the church and it was shattered,” said Kachurka.
She met another individual and the two left the destroyed statue of Saint Joseph at the church. They got into an SUV, driving away with the statue of baby Jesus.
The vehicle pulled up in front of the rectory hours later. An individual ran up to the shrine of the Blessed Mother, placed the baby Jesus sculpture at the base and left.
According to Father Kachurka, the NYPD identified the woman and she received medical help. He says the woman will not be arrested and the incident is not being investigated as a hate crime.
“I don’t think there’s any evil involved. There’s no mal-intent involved. I just hope and pray this person, whoever it is, will get all of the help they can get to live out a good, sound life,” Kachurka added.
By Emily Drooby
With the help of music, prayer, and soup; members of the Haitian community celebrated their independence on New Year’s Day at St. Jerome Church in East Flatbush.
Reverend Saint Charles Borno, the coordinator of the Haitian Apostolate of the Brooklyn Diocese, explained, “It is important for the people because it’s a way to show their nationalistic way of expressing Haiti as part of our lives even if we are living in other places, but we still love the country and we want to share that moment with other Hattians and anybody else who can come.”
The annual Independence Day Mass, which is held at a different location every year, celebrated an uprising in Haiti that helped the country to gain independence from France 215 years ago.
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio celebrated the Mass along with priest and deacons from across the diocese. The homily was delivered by Deacon Jean Jocelyn Rameau.
The church was packed for the Mass, which was celebrated in French Creole and French. The hymn, Te Deum, was also performed in Latin.
Bishop Nicholas Dimarzio, said, “At the end of the Mass they sing the Te Deum which is very beautiful in Latin, which they know by heart, so they have a lot of deep religious tradition in Haiti that they bring with them to our Dioceses.”
Following Mass, congregants shared soup joumou, a special dish slaves were not allowed to have.
Reverend Saint Borno explained, “The first thing that the slaves did now that they are free, they want to enjoy that same food that the masters would not allow them to have.”
The pumpkin soup is always consumed on Haiti’s Independence Day as a way to recognize and celebrate their freedom.
Currents News Staff
It seems things are getting more difficult for Christians in Egypt. They are surrounded by fanatics who consider them second-class citizens. Additionally, the Egyptian Christian community is very old.
One of the areas hardest hit in recent times by sectarian violence is Minya. However, despite fears the persecution has also strengthened the faith of many.
Msgr. Botros Fahid Awad Hanna, the Coptic-Catholic Bishop of Minya, attended the Report on ‘Religious Freedom in the World’ of Aid to the Church in Need. It was held in Rome.
“There are people who are afraid, others who can’t believe it and some who are very angry. However, in most cases, Christians have seen their faith strengthened and there are more people in Mass than before the attacks.” “It is not strange to suffer for faith because Christ told us that whoever wanted to follow Him must deny himself and carry the cross. It is, therefore, a characteristic of our faith,” said he said.
The bishop explained that the difficulties for Christians in Egypt are many, starting with having places for worship.
“To build or repair churches there are always bureaucratic difficulties, we must always wait months or even years. We have to make the processions always inside the church, not outside as here in Europe. I know people who want to convert to Christianity but it is impossible for them, it is forbidden. This is why we often tell them that since it is dangerous for them to make it known publicly, they should believe it in their heart,” he added.
From discrimination to physical attacks to even murder these are some of things Christians have to suffer. All of this is because of an indoctrination that is difficult to stop.
“The problem is to combat the fanatical mentality that has been nurtured in the communities by the Salafists, the Muslim Brotherhood and others. They have contaminated the minds of many people,” he said.
Just days after the latest attack on a pilgrim bus in his diocese, the bishop participated in Venice to attend the lighting up of St. Mark’s Cathedral and its lagoon red. This was done to draw attention to the persecution of Christians around the world.
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