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The Great Irish Fair, a 44-year tradition celebrating Irish Catholic faith and heritage, will once again take place at Holy Name of Jesus Parish in Park Slope, marking a shift from its former Coney Island venue.
The Sept. 13 event, a cornerstone of the Diocese of Immigrants, raises funds to support Catholic schools in Brooklyn and Queens, helping parents afford quality education for their children.
Brendan Gallagher, the fair’s new director, shares insights on this year’s event, explaining that Park Slope offers a more community-oriented setting, enhancing the fair’s vibrant atmosphere.
As first-time director, Gallagher is eager to elevate the fair with a mix of traditional Irish music, dance, and food, alongside fresh attractions to draw diverse crowds. “It’s a celebration of Irish pride and faith, months after St. Patrick’s Day, that brings our community together,” he tells Currents News.
BREEZY POINT — Anne Ryan, a parishioner of Blessed Trinity Parish in Breezy Point, spent time at Bay Side Beach on the evening of Aug. 15. But she wasn’t there to go swimming. She was there to attend Mass.
Ryan, a parishioner for 60 years, was one of hundreds of people who participated in a special shoreline Mass marking the Feast of the Assumption.
“It’s so special to be able to come down here to the beach and come to Mass. You feel close to God and close to nature by being here,” she said.
The Feast of the Assumption marks the Blessed Mother’s ascension into heaven. Since the 15th century, Mass on the feast day has typically been celebrated near water, and often includes a blessing of the water by a bishop.
Bishop Robert Brennan celebrated the Aug. 15 Mass as waves gently caressed the shoreline. Hundreds of people — sitting on beach chairs instead of in pews — took part in the celebration. Father Michael Gelfant, pastor of Blessed Trinity Parish, estimated that the Mass drew 750 of the faithful.
The idea of Mary entering heaven with her body intact and without decay is a cause for celebration and a good sign for all of the faithful, Bishop Brennan told the congregation in his homily.
“Mary gives us hope that God keeps his promises,” he said.
The setting for the Mass was also inspiring, Bishop Brennan said afterward. “There is something about the beach that’s always refreshing. No matter what the weather is, there’s something beautiful here,” Bishop Brennan said. “We’re very blessed here in Brooklyn and Queens to be surrounded by it. And on a night like this, especially, we could be together on a nice, comfortable night and enjoy the beauty of God’s creation.”
During the Mass, Bishop Brennan blessed a container filled with bay water and sprinkled it on the congregation.
The Mass on the shoreline, which has become a beloved tradition at Blessed Trinity Parish, is quickly gaining popularity outside Breezy Point.
Regina Lessing, a parishioner of St. Andrew the Apostle Church in Bay Ridge, made the trip to Queens from Brooklyn.
“This is my third time. I love coming here for this,” she said.” It makes you think about how God is everywhere. I love being near the water.”
Parishioners look forward to the Mass every year, Father Gelfant said. In part, that is because Catholics also believe that the blessed waters hold special healing powers.
“We bless the water for safety, even though it’s towards the end of the summer,” he explained. “But also, then people will either put their foot in the water, or they will take water for their holy water fonts in the house.
“They feel that after the water is blessed, there is a healing presence of the Blessed Mother to help him.”
The Mass came at a time when Father Gelfant and parishioners were still recovering from the shock of a three-alarm fire that tore through St. Edmund Church on Holy Saturday, April 19.
Blessed Trinity Parish, which is made up of St. Edmund, St. Thomas More, and St. Genevieve, is planning to rebuild the church.
Tim Nolan, a Blessed Trinity parishioner, said he often prays for St. Edmund Church to return to life.
“I remember going to it that night. It was a horrible scene,” he said. “So yeah, I’ve been praying for that for a while.”
Ryan said she is confident St. Edmund Church will make a strong comeback.
“As soon as people heard about the fire,” she said, “they started doing what they could to help. Breezy people are special people.”
Father Gelfant, who noted that the church’s faith formation school and a meeting room were also impacted, vowed to rebuild after the fire.
“It’s going to take some time,” he said. “But we’re going pretty fast, and I think we’ll be able to get it done.”
Hundreds of Catholics traded in pews for beach chairs to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption during a seaside Mass in Breezy Point, Queens with Bishop Robert Brennan.
Currents News is looking at the first 100 days of Pope Leo XIV’s pontificate, highlighting his leadership, approachability, and connection with young people around the world.
Archaeologists have discovered that many residents returned to live in the ruins of Pompeii after the catastrophic 79 A.D. volcanic eruption, shedding new light on the ancient city’s history.
Hundreds of parishioners from Brooklyn and Queens traveled to Breezy Point participated in a special shoreline Mass marking the Feast of the Assumption.
Pope Leo XIV is at Castel Gandolfo in Italy for his second break of the summer. During his time there he will be celebrating the feast of the Assumption of Mary, a solemnity with deep roots that was only officially recognized in recent history.
The Feast of the Assumption has been celebrated since the first centuries of Christianity. But the solemnity recognized every year on August 15th is a little over 70 years old.
“We can say that already in previous centuries–I am referring, for example, to medieval times–the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary already existed, that is, it was not only born when Pius XII defined the dogma on November 1, 1950.
A dogma is a definite truth of faith. That is, it must be shown in divine revelation and must have been handed down through tradition from the first centuries of the Church.
“The Church does not create revealed truths. The Church is the depository of Revelation and is at the service of Revelation,” explained Vincenzo Battaglia, a dogmatic expert “The only author of Revelation is God, God thrice holy, as the dogmatic constitution Dei Verbum of the Second Vatican Council teaches. Jesus, the Christ, is the fulfillment, the fullness of Revelation.”
A dogma can be proclaimed through a Council or when the Pope pronounces it “ex cathedra.” The Assumption of Mary was the most recent dogma announced by the Church, under the pontificate of Pope Pius XII.
Since then, Holy Fathers have celebrated this special honor for the Mother of God.
“On the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, we contemplate the Mother of God participating with her body and soul in the glory of heaven,” Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI once said. “In her, we see already realized the fullness of life to which we are all called. She is the first creature who, with her whole self, body and soul, victoriously crosses the finish line of Heaven. She shows us that Heaven is within reach. How come? Yes, Heaven is within reach, if we too do not give in to sin, if we praise God in humility and serve others generously.”
Catholics are offering prayers for a man who served as a priestly example to the Knights of Columbus: Blessed Michael McGivney.
Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan celebrated Mass with the knights at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, on Wednesday, August 14, to mark the feast of the New Haven, Connecticut parish priest who started the fraternal organization in 1882.
“We make our way now in the 21st century, to carry on the good work that he’s done, the good work he began,” Bishop Robert Brennan told Currents News. “He worked with these emerging communities, people who were struggling to get by, to make their way in this new land.”
More than 140 years and millions of members later, the knights are now praying for his canonization cause.
“That a second miracle attributed to his intercession may open the way for him to be proclaimed a saint of the universal Church. we pray to the lord,” Father Michael Gelfant, associate state chaplain of the New York State Council for Knights of Columbus, prayed.
Blessed Michael McGivney’s legacy has continued to this day, and Bishop Brennan says that’s in part because of the groundwork he laid.
“Michael McGivney, you might say, was a little bit ahead of his time,” said Bishop Brennan, “this was a lay run organization, which now is probably one of the strongest in the church, still devoted to the very same principles of protecting families, of building of faith communities, helping men to be good husbands and fathers.”
The Knights of Columbus are hoping to make their founder, Blessed Michael McGivney, a saint. Now their campaign is getting a spiritual boost from Bishop Robert Brennan and the Diocese of Brooklyn.
In a matter of weeks the Catholic Church will be welcoming two new saints: Blesseds Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati will be canonized on September 7.
While at Castel Gandolfo Pope Leo XIV is preparing to celebrate the feast of the Assumption of Mary. The solemnity with deep roots was only recently officially recognized in history.
The start of a new school year is just around the corner – The Mary Louis Academy is preparing to welcome sixth, seventh and eighth graders to its Queens campus for the first time.
The Vatican has improved its employee handbook, and one of the new measures includes extending paternity leave.
An 85-year-old swimmer is preparing for her shot at Olympic gold in North Dakota and showing others that it’s never too late to follow your dreams.
Cram a multitude of teens and young adults into one space, and it’s going to get loud. That’s precisely what happened on Aug. 2 near a university campus on the outskirts of Rome.
(Photo: Lucero Manzanares)
Hundreds of thousands of young Catholic pilgrims from across the globe — with some estimates saying it was around 1 million — assembled near the University of Rome Tor Vergata for prayer and an overnight vigil.
The gathering was part of the celebrations for the 2025 Jubilee of Youth. Among them were 87 pilgrims from the Diocese of Brooklyn, plus chaperones, parish priests, and Bishop Robert Brennan.
The exuberant New Yorkers, toting the flags of the United States, the Roman Catholic Church, and the diocese, participated in the joyous assembly led by Pope Leo XIV.
One pilgrim from Queens described the young people as being “so alive and so inflamed with our faith.” That is, until the new pope raised a monstrance containing the Blessed Sacrament for Eucharistic adoration.
“Literally,” Jon Paolo “J.P.” Marasigan said, “You had a million people — who were completely loud and noisy just minutes before — falling into complete silence, worshiping the Blessed Sacrament.
The Jubilee of Youth, held from July 28 to Aug. 3, was part of the 2025 Jubilee Year celebrating the anniversary of the Incarnation of the Lord. Youth and young adults came to Rome for the international celebration and pilgrimage.
The Diocese of Brooklyn’s pilgrims came from several parishes.
Included were St. Brigid, Bushwick; St. Athanasius, Bensonhurst; Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Astoria; the Shrine Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Williamsburg; St. Mary Gate of Heaven, South Ozone Park; St. Pancras, Glendale; and the Basilica of Regina Pacis, Dyker Heights.
Marasigan is a co-youth minister at St. Mary Gate of Heaven.
He told The Tablet on Aug. 5, just hours after returning from Rome, that the Jubilee of Youth showed the world that the Catholic faith is strong among the world’s youth.
(Photo: Luis Peter Sanchez)
“It was a testament to everyone who says that young people aren’t falling in love with Catholicism,” he said. “Yes, we are still here in the Church. It is something that I want to share with the people right here in Brooklyn and Queens.”
Another attendee, Luis Sanchez, from Our Lady of Mount Carmel, agreed.
“The youth need to be heard,” he said. “In return, our Catholic faith will see their active participation will be equivalent to how much we listen to the youth.”
(Photo: Lucero Manzanares)
Felicity Morel, also from Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Astoria, said the nine-day experience invigorated her faith, especially the Eucharistic adoration at the Aug. 2 night vigil.
“I just felt so close to Jesus,” she said. “Honestly, it taught me that I do love the Eucharist. It helped me understand, this is my faith.
The first day of the pilgrimage included a tour of Assisi, where participants learned about St. Francis and St. Clare.
Later in the week, they also visited the tombs of many other saints, plus two young men who will be canonized in September — Blessed Carlo Acutis and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati.
Felicity, who will enter Emmanuel College in Boston this fall, said she was impressed to hear the biographies of saints and learn that they, too, had flaws.
(Photo: Lucero Manzanares)
“It was lovely knowing that these were normal people, who were also sinners, and yet they became saints,” she said.
She praised Bishop Brennan for walking every step with the pilgrims.
“It was very comforting knowing that the bishop of our diocese, which is very big, can really be someone that you can talk to,” she said.
Amy Vu, also from Our Lady of Mount Carmel, said it was “spiritually nurturing” to walk through the holy doors of the major basilicas in Rome, which are opened during a Jubilee, every 25 years. These portals are at St. Peter’s, St. John Lateran, St. Paul Outside the Walls, and St. Mary Major, which is the burial place for Pope Francis.
Amy said she was glad to pass through that door because she had hoped to see Pope Francis at the Jubilee, but he died last April.
(Photo: Lucero Manzanares)
Still, all four of the pilgrims were excited to see Pope Leo up close. They described rushing to the barricades to see him better as he passed in the popemobile.
During the homily of the closing Mass on Aug. 3, Pope Leo urged the pilgrims to realize that “everything in the world has meaning only insofar as it serves to unite us to God and to our brothers and sisters in charity.”
Such things, he added, help “us to grow in compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience, forgiveness and peace, all in imitation of Christ.”
Amy said she hopes to do that when she begins college in the fall to study biology and English at Stony Brook University on Long Island.
“I want to really focus on being faithful in college, because one of the things that I don’t want to dwindle, or lose, is my faith,” she said. “So, I want to try to work on my faith through volunteering or helping out at campus ministry.
