One hundred and four years after a Catholic priest chose to stay on the R.M.S. Titanic and minister to those doomed to die in the infamous mid-Atlantic shipwreck, St. Paul’s Church on Court St. honored his legacy with a plaque.
Month: April 2016
Trying to Foster a Culture of Encounter
Getting personal, as in engaging and knowing one another, underlies Pope Francis’ urging for a culture of encounter. He speaks against the tendencies to intellectualize, judge, dismiss and demonize the poor, the unemployed, the undocumented migrants, etc. They are categories of social construction with statistics, theories, precedents, antecedents and solutions that delineate costs and benefits. Too often they are devoid of faces, stories, pains, dreams. That need not be the case.
The Best Nuncio We’ve Had Thus Far
The announcement that Archbishop Christoph Pierre will succeed Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò as apostolic nuncio to the U.S. is an opportunity to pay tribute to a courageous churchman who has served Catholicism, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis in an exemplary way during his tenure in Washington.
A Timely Look at Marriage, Church Law
Msgr. John Alesandro has written a timely book on Church law about marriage and the family. It was inspired as Pope Francis was inviting bishops of the world to a Synod on the Family.
Teens Newsflash
Friday Adoration and Fun Night at Holy Family Church in Canarsie; apply to be part of VBCC Youth Leadership; and a Loughlin student is recognized for her peace building efforts.
Faith Helps New Met Adjust to ‘Big Apple’
It all just seems like the perfect Cinderella story, right? But that all changed this past December with one phone call. Neil Walker went from being the hometown baseball star in Pittsburgh to being the newest member of the New York Mets. And his faith has helped with that transition.
Suffering, Sacrifice and Joy
One of life’s inescapable mysteries is the presence of suffering. No human person is spared this painful reality. From our first moments – and sometimes to our very last – our lives are marked by the fact that we are limited. When we meet these limitations we quickly realize that we have a choice to make: We can give in and wonder why these things happen to us, bemoaning this basic truth of life, or we can face it, embrace it and grow. We can either be defined by our pain or in spite of it.
A Marvelous Experience
Back in March I received a telephone call from Cassie Zelic, the principal of Our Lady of Fatima School in Jackson Heights. She had arranged that a Queens movie theatre would open its doors one morning during the week to screen the film “Risen” for her seventh and eighth graders.
Rescued by Pope Felt Like Dream
After less than 48 hours in Rome, “dream” is the word used most often by the six Syrian adults Pope Francis brought back to Italy with him from a refugee camp in Greece.
Flushing Parish Pilgrims Celebrate Divine Mercy
It was a windy and chilly Sunday morning when faithful members of the Filipino Association of St. Michael’s parish, Flushing, led by Divina Pasion, began their morning rosary prayer in honor of their patron saint, La Naval de Manila, at the doors of the church. They were pilgrims preparing to depart by bus for the National Shrine of Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Mass.