City Councilman Robert Holden offered a glimmer of hope that a popular universal pre-K program at Sacred Heart Catholic Academy in Glendale that was targeted for closure might not have to shut its doors after all.
Month: February 2021
Cuomo Administration Faces Federal Probe Over Nursing Home Deaths
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration is under federal investigation for its handling of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes.
Focolare’s New President ‘A Daughter of the Church’ In ‘Service of All’
Focolare, the international ecumenical organization, has a new president — Margaret Karram, an Arab Catholic from Israel, and an expert at promoting dialogue among religions. In a Feb. 5 audience with Pope Francis, Karram told him, “I don’t like the word ‘president.’ I’m a daughter of the Church, and I want to be at your service and the service of all.”
For Lent, Ask If One’s Life is Centered on God or Oneself, Pope Says
Lent is a time to reconsider the path one is taking in life and to finally answer God’s invitation to return to him with one’s whole heart, Pope Francis said.
A Brief History: The Practice of Sprinkling Ashes
Though American Catholics are used to receiving their ashes from thumb to forehead on Ash Wednesday, this year, ashes will be sprinkled on their heads. The gesture and practice of sprinkling ashes, however, has a longstanding history within Jewish and Catholic traditions.
Amid Record Snow, Texas Scrambles to Reconfigure Ash Wednesday
Parishes across the state of Texas have canceled Ash Wednesday Masses amid a winter storm that’s left over three million people without power and brought record low temperatures all week.
Bishop Healy Vaulted From Slavery to Servant of God
James Augustine Healy in 1875 became the first bishop of African-American heritage in the U.S. He was the son of an Irish cotton planter father and a mixed-race mother who was a slave. This family from Georgia also produced two other priests, two nuns, a hardware dealer, and a famous ship captain.
Franciscans Mark 600th Year of Pope Francis Establishing Commissaries of Holy Land
Before he became guardian and commissary of the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in Washington in 2013, Franciscan Father Larry Dunham made his first trip to the Holy Land, where his order has cared for the most sacred shrines of Christendom for centuries.
Catholics in Qaraqosh, Iraq, Call It ‘Miracle’ That Pope Francis Will Visit
The largest Syriac Catholic congregation in the world is preparing physically and spiritually for Pope Francis’ upcoming visit to Qaraqosh, Iraq.
Sports Round-Up Feb. 20
The Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) of Brooklyn and Queens is returning to activity with a diocesan free-throw shooting contest that will run Feb. 15-21.