The archbishop who steered Poland’s Catholic Church through communist rule and a blind Franciscan nun who founded one of Europe’s foremost centers for the sight-impaired took a step closer to sainthood Sept. 12.
The archbishop who steered Poland’s Catholic Church through communist rule and a blind Franciscan nun who founded one of Europe’s foremost centers for the sight-impaired took a step closer to sainthood Sept. 12.
The usual peace and quiet of a Sunday afternoon on 217th St., between 92nd and 93rd avenues, in this Queens neighborhood was anything but on Sept. 12. Instead, it was transformed by the colorful and boisterous sights and sounds of a popular Indian Marian devotion: the celebration of the feast day of Our Lady of Velankanni, also known as Our Lady of Good Health.
When Bishop James Tamayo held his priest council meeting on Sept. 8, he asked his priests — many of whom are Mexican nationals — if they had heard the news of the Mexican supreme court vote the day before that essentially legalized abortion in the country.
Speaking to civil authorities in Slovakia, a country that for decades was under one-party Communist rule, Pope Francis warned against the “single-thought” system of consumerism and ideological colonization.
The Legion of Mary has been winning souls for Jesus, through his Blessed Mother, for 100 years. There are 1,251 “legionaries” and 1,910 auxiliary members in parishes throughout the Diocese of Brooklyn. An estimated 250 of them came to a Mass of Commemoration on Sept. 7 at St. Therese of Lisieux Parish in East Flatbush, Brooklyn.
In 2001, Father Gerard Sauer was a newly ordained priest at St. Patrick Church, helping guide a grieving parish through the horror of the 9/11 terror attack and its aftermath. Two decades later, he is the pastor of the Bay Ridge church, helping parishioners cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.
When the hills seemed too steep to climb or a hard rain was pelting his skin, former flight attendant Paul “Paulie” Veneto kept his head down, stared at the nine faces smiling back at him, and powered through the pain.
It took over two months for the music industry to address the horrific attacks that occurred on 9/11. People were confused, angry, and still in shock over what occurred on that fateful day, until a country singer from Newnan, Ga., helped put it all into perspective for us with a song that resonated throughout the country and the world.
It’s been 20 years since the worst attack on our country. I lost many people I knew and loved.
Chris Sorrentino still has a hard time thinking about that day. But Sept. 11 never goes away for another reason: the toxic dust at ground zero that he breathed in over the next several months and the bladder cancer he developed years later.