What began three years ago as The Tablet’s “COVID Relief Fundraiser for Catholic Schools” will be back in September, allowing all participating schools and their students in the Diocese of Brooklyn to directly benefit from the campaign by earning cash.
Students will be challenged to sell or renew subscriptions to The Tablet newspaper, and more than 80% of funds raised will be distributed to the students and their schools.
Meet the Filipino Father who’s getting parishioners involved in their church by ministering to the sick and homebound.
The students who sell the most Tablet newspapers can win some big bucks for themselves and their schools in this year’s fundraiser.
The American nurse and her daughter who were abducted from their Christian non-profit in Haiti are alive.
Days after World Youth Day ended, some people traveled from Portugal to the Vatican to be in the Holy Father’s presence again.
By Katie Vasquez
The students in the Father Troike Summer Leadership Program at Cathedral Prep and Seminary in Elmhurst, Queens are celebrating Mass with one special guest.
Father James Kuroly, the rector president at Cathedral Prep, was in Northern Italy during Easter week when he noticed portraits of Blessed Rolando Rivi in a church.
“His face reminded me of the faces of many of our students so I wrote to the church,” Father Kuroly said. “I told [them] who we were as a high school and a place for young men to discern God’s call and as a gift to the school they had given us this relic.”
During his homily, he explained the story of the seminarian, a man he hopes these young catholics will view as a hero.
“When the seminary closed, because of World War II, he continued to wear the cassock and his mother said please take it off because we don’t want you to be a victim,” Father Kuroly said. “He said ‘I can’t because I belong to Christ.’”
Rivi was only 14 when he was executed by fascists who declared there would be “one less future priest.”
It was something that struck a chord with students.
“Oftentimes in the matter of faith, the strongest flames often die out the fastest,” Kevin Wilfinger, a student at Cathedral Prep said.
“It is inspirational because it shows you a guy who really didn’t back down with what his religion was, what his beliefs were,” Joshua Francisco, a student at Cathedral Prep said. “It showed us that no matter what dark times are there, there’s always a light somewhere.”
Each of these young men were able to venerate the relic, a piece of a man not unlike themselves.
“The fact that you’re able to walk up to it, and just like you know, most people never get a chance to touch a piece of someone’s hair, a sliver of their heart, or something like that,” Gabriel Lopez, a student at Cathedral Prep said. “It was special like that.”
While the head of the Ohio Catholic Conference acknowledges the tall task ahead of defeating a pro-abortion amendment to the state’s constitution this fall, he doesn’t agree that the recent rejection of a measure that would have helped defeat the amendment means the battle is already lost.
“We certainly did not see it as a pure proxy vote,” Brian Hickey, executive director of the Ohio Catholic Conference, which represents the state’s bishops, told The Tablet. “We know our work is cut out for us to defeat the abortion amendment in November, but we don’t see it as an impossible task.”
On Aug. 8, more than three million Ohioans took to the polls to vote on Issue 1, a measure that essentially would have made it more difficult to change the state’s constitution by requiring a 60 percent supermajority threshold to pass future constitutional amendments, opposed to the current simple majority.
John Lavenburg, National Correspondent for the Tablet and Crux, joins Currents News to discuss the latest on the Ohio vote and what it all means.
A high school and seminary in Queens now has a permanent saintly presence.
Voters in Ohio rejected a ballot measure that would have made it harder to protect abortion rights.
The Sisters of Life are now seven members stronger.
Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens held their 12th Annual Kids Fun Day in Astoria, Queens.
Victoria Lopez, a parishioner at St. Joseph Church in Astoria, just completed her pilgrimage to Portugal for World Youth Day 2023.
She left the Diocese of Brooklyn in search of a stronger connection with Jesus Christ and in hopes of finding herself.
Lopez, fresh off the plane from Lisbon, joins Currents News to talk about the moments from World Youth Day that shaped her life.
Meet the man behind the lens who’s gained a social media following for his photos of the historic structures.
A group of peace activists is apologizing for the U.S. dropping atomic bombs on Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki 78 years ago and is praying for healing.
One World Youth Day traveler says she received a possible miracle while on her trip.
One pilgrim fresh off the plane from Lisbon join Currents News to talk about the moments from World Youth Day that shaped their lives.
by Katie Vasquez
When Andrew Masi goes to church, he’s bringing hundreds of other Catholics with him.
“I feel like I’m taking people on a virtual tour of these places. I’ve had people tell me- you give me a way to experience the beauty of the church,” Masi said.
He’s known to his Instagram followers as, “The Catholic photographer,” most notably for capturing snapshots of faith on a cell phone camera.
Masi first picked up his camera almost a decade ago.
It was Easter Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, and he was inspired after simply looking up.
“I’m looking up at the beautiful church, looking at the magnificent architecture, its gorgeous stained-glass windows, the statues, and I’m thinking wow this church is just amazing,” Masi said.
Since then, he’s taken his passion for photographing parishes on the road.
He’s visited 35 out of 50 states and captured basilicas and cathedrals in cities like Philadelphia, Lansing, Michigan and Las Vegas.
“I feel a sense of gratefulness for my Catholic faith drawing me to these places,” Masi said. “Without my faith, I wouldn’t be able to do this.”
On Labor Day, Masi will hit a new milestone. He’ll photograph his 100th church, the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Memphis, Tennessee.
“They already know I’m coming and they’re like oh we’ll get the red carpet ready for you,” he said.
Masi said he’s on a mission to see all the cathedrals and basilicas across the United States, a task he expects to finish within the next decade.
But he’s not stopping there, he would also like to photograph churches throughout Canada and eventually all of Europe.
Check out the highlights from the Brooklyn Catholic youth who made their pilgrimage to World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal
By Jessica Easthope
More than a million and a half people started out on a 6-mile trek in triple-digit heat — to the vigil that defined their pilgrimage to Portugal, with their sleeping bags in hand.
For Vincent Flores, a pilgrim from Our Lady of Help of Christians in Midwood, he remembers lying on the rocky ground as the sun went down, feeling closer than ever to his faith.
“Doing the walk, my faith has grown,” Flores said. “It’s become deeper and stronger. It was definitely very grueling, but God carries me through all struggles.
“My prayer life will definitely be changed when I pray,” Flores said. “I’ll be praying more deeply and from the heart.”
Bishop Robert Brennan knows the pilgrims sacrificed for their faith — that long walk and all throughout World Youth Day.
“They’ve been making those sacrifices all week,” Bishop Brennan said. “There were early mornings and late nights and looking out for one another and in that sense bearing the hardships, dealing with big crowds, they are sacrifices, but in the end they found it was worth it,”
Bishop Brennan was also in that crowd as adoration in front of the Blessed Sacrament began ahead of the overnight campout.
“They brought the Blessed Sacrament out and everyone just quieted down, can you imagine that,” Bishop Brennan said. “A million and a half people in one place in total silence in the presence of the Lord. It just goes to show you the depth of the Catholic faith, we know how to have a good time and enjoy each other’s company but we also know when it’s time to focus on Jesus.”
Father Dwayne Davis, pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Flatlands, said the most rewarding part of the pilgrimage was seeing it all come together for the pilgrims.
“At night when there was so much quiet for the Holy Hour and we were all there worshiping Jesus together,” Father Davis said. “Seeing them grow in their faith, seeing the light come on in their eyes, it was really a great joy.”