The sisters of St. Joseph in Hampton Bays have partnered with “ecological cultural initiative” to house a garden on their property.
A federal judge in Texas has declared a revised version of the DACA program to be unlawful.
Bishops will gather in Rome for a synod on Synodality next month.
Fontbonne Hall Academy in Bay Ridge held a ceremony Tuesday to retire Caileigh Duggan’s number 17 volleyball jersey.
Rescuers in Morocco are searching for survivors of a powerful earthquake that leveled entire villages.
The death toll is nearing 3,000 and thousands more are still missing.
Father Oscar Arturo García Padilla, the director of Caritas in the Archdiocese of Rabat, Morocco, is leading the rescue team.
Father Padilla spoke with Currents News about the disaster, what is needed now, and what was going through his mind when the 6.8 magnitude quake hit.
If you’d like to help the earthquake relief effort in Morocco, go to Caritas.org and click on the donate button.
By Jessica Easthope
It’s only the first full week of school, but for Harley Leo, walking into this building every day is not getting old.
Leo and her third grade classmates are marveling at a new mural in the front entrance of St. Mel’s Catholic Academy in Flushing.
“I was really shocked at how beautiful it was,” Leo said. “It’s so beautiful it almost made me cry.”
“I was shocked,” Isabella Aslani, a third grader at St. Mel’s Catholic Academy, said. “It was just so insane.”
“It’s a new year, so we gotta get new stuff,” Jacob Morgan, a third grader at St. Mel’s Catholic Academy, said.
In one corner, students look up at an outer-space scene, on another wall, a message of motivation, and on a third a backpack pops out of an adjacent door. On yet another wall there is a celestial creation that’s grounded in Catholic faith.
The artist is Efren Andaluz. This mural is the product of three and a half weeks of work and 100 cans of spray paint.
Millions have seen other examples of his work all over New York City, but the students at St. Mel’s get to say this mural is all their own.
“When you think about God you think about a grand Creator,” Andaluz said. “I’m just a reflection of Christ, so I’m thinking about Genesis 1, the creation of the universe so we have the stars, the planets, the moon.”
“It reminds me of coloring and all the projects I used to make and what I make now,” Morgan said.
“When I look at the science stuff it looks so creative that I think I might as well decide to be an artist too,” Leo said.
Principal Amy Barron said the mural represents what St. Mel’s is all about.
A few years ago the school was set to close. In an effort to save it, St. Mel’s became an early childhood center, but against all odds the school is now back up to sixth grade and still growing.
“It’s a source of inspiration for them when they enter the building,” Barron said. “We want this to be an exciting place for them to learn and look forward to coming every day.”
Andaluz said incorporating faith into this mural was easy, because it’s something he does in all of them.
“When you think about STEM and now STEAM people think it’s either science or God, but God created science and everything in a mathematically balanced way.”
The goal was to get kids excited about coming to school.
“We’re in the middle of a regrowth process so we’re always revisioning and looking ahead toward the future while still maintaining our roots and where we come from,” Barron said.
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You can get more back-to-school content in this week’s issue of The Tablet.
Ring in the new school year with the Diocese of Brooklyn students, like the kids from St. Michael’s who rang an old bell that has become a fixture at the school.
You can also see a breakdown of how Catholic schools are beating out public schools in student numbers.
Plus, get to know the 13 new principals in the Diocese of Brooklyn.
Meet the artist behind an inspirational new mural at a Catholic School in Flushing, Queens.
Find out how to sign up for the National Eucharistic Revival in the Diocese or Brooklyn.
We’ll talk to the priest leading recovery efforts in earthquake ravaged Morocco.
A statue of Mary that was once vandalized now stands again at a Queens church.
Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan blessed the new image of Our Lady at St Mary’s Nativity- St Ann Parish. The old image was desecrated last October when a man drove his car onto the parish lawn and repeatedly hit the statue in the face.
The scene shocked the Queens community and Pastor Father Jose Diaz, who witnessed the attack. But he says the incident has also united the church, explaining “It’s brought the community together in a very real way and I think we saw that tonight.
People have really shown their support, their love by their prayers, their donations… just all across the board.”
When asked about the incident, Bishop Brennan said “The light overcomes the darkness, the suffering releases love, hatred releases mercy and indifference releases deeper faith.”
The new all-marble statue hails from Italy and is a foot taller than the old one.
For two decades Patrick Rubi has been following a certain path. “I have an internship, I’m doing campus ministry at two different campuses, I have classes,” Patrick lists.
He was a junior studying history at Hunter College until he recently decided he’s dropping out of school for a higher calling.
“I encountered the Lord like tugging and nudging at my heart. Encouraging and like mentioning this vocation, to the seminary, and to discern the priesthood,” Patrick says.
The Saint Gabriel’s parishioner admits he fought those feelings for a while, thinking that he was meant to have a different life. “A big fight between like what I wanted which was a family and what he wants, which is something a little different,” Patrick explains.
He didn’t feel a personal connection to Christ until high school and his vocational call started in college. He recounts, “It was about a year ago that I could say concretely, I encountered the Lord like tugging and nudging at my heart.
But that tug turned into a pull when Patrick attended World Youth Day in Portugal. “After a year of no, after months and months of saying no and turning my back. I was like okay, let’s say let’s say a little yes,” he explains.
Patrick is dropping out of Hunter and saying goodbye to his friends and family. He will be heading to Italy to continue his discernment journey. “I’ve lived with my family and parents my whole life, and to move away from that, to stop that will be very difficult I’m sure.”
His pastor, Father Nicholas Apollonio, is encouraging him along the way, knowing young people across the country are wrestling over whether to answer their call. “It’s a big struggle for vocations,” Father Nicholas says, “as society is becoming more and more secularized, going away from God. ”
But as someone who walked a similar path, Father Nicholas thinks the road ahead is bright.
“I think if God called him, I think he won the lottery.”
A parishioner at St. Gabriel’s in East Elmhurst is taking his love for Christ to the next level.
At least 2,000 people are dead and 10,000 more are missing in Libya after catastrophic flooding.
Morocco is dealing with the aftermath of an earthquake.
Bishop Robert Brennan celebrated Mass in Breezy Point last night at a 9/11 Memorial.
Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan recognized some lay leaders over the weekend.
Catechists from twenty-three parishes in the Diocese of Brooklyn gathered at Saints Simon and Jude Church for mass.
Catechists are those who teach the principles of the Catholic faith to kids who aren’t in Diocese of Brooklyn schools.
The Catechists at this Brooklyn church were celebrating milestone anniversaries, spreading the faith to the next generation for up to 50 years!
Faithful in the Diocese of Brooklyn prayed for racial equality during a feast day Mass on Sunday Sept. 10.
The liturgy at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph was in honor of St. Peter Claver, the patron saint of slaves and interracial equality.
The yearly diocesan Mass was started years ago as a way of promoting racial unity while social justice protests were happening around the country.
Now, the liturgy looks to highlight the ongoing issues and concerns for African American Catholics. This year, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to end affirmative action in colleges, Catholics prayed for racial equality in education.
Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan, who celebrated the Mass, spoke about how important equality is to people of faith.
The Diocese of Brooklyn held its 9/11 remembrance across the Brooklyn Bridge.
Members of the FDNY marched from the World Trade Center to the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph.
Firefighters from Battalion 57 took part in the annual march.
They carried 23 flags to represent the 23 fallen heroes from their battalion who passed that day.
The marchers say the walk across the bridge and back to Brooklyn is symbolic of bringing home the brave men, and it continues their promise to never forget.