For Donald Hoffman, mental health is nothing to be ashamed of
Hoffman, an Astoria resident, has struggled with bipolar disorder and depression for most of his life, and since 2013, he has received services from Catholic Charities Brooklyn & Queens’ (CCBQ) mental health and rehabilitation center in Jackson Heights.
It was a rainy, solemn occasion as hundreds gathered in Jersey City, N.J., on Dec. 17 for the funeral of Jersey City Police Department Det. Joseph Seals, which was held at St. Aedan’s church, where police and family members paid their final respects to the slain officer, who was Catholic.
Volunteers from the Diocese of Brooklyn joined Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and about 300 others on Dec. 14 at Kmart Astor Place in Manhattan to buy Christmas gifts for needy families.
At Holy Cross H.S., Flushing, think fresh chicken cutlets and shish kebab with tzatziki sauce. The school’s meals are high quality — and they are a family affair, too.
The Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph, Prospect Heights, is six miles from St. Mary’s Winfield, Woodside, or more than a two-hour walk — a pilgrimage that Janelli Nunez and her parents, Cira and Antonio, make every year on Dec. 12 for the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Catholic education in Brooklyn and Queens received a big boost on Dec. 11 when a luncheon hosted by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio raised $350,000 for scholarships and tuition assistance.
Sitting at his courtroom bench post on a recent Thursday morning in December, Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Matthew D’Emic hands a graduate of his alternative court program a certificate of completion, smiling as those in the courtroom applaud.
John Miniero, a retired baker who proudly displays a homemade nativity scene outside his home in Dyker Heights, knows what Christmas should really be about: the birth of Jesus.
Called the Peace Light, the candle traveled thousands of miles from Bethlehem via Austria for an arrival ceremony at Our Lady of the Skies Chapel in Terminal 4.
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio was the main celebrant, and the concelebrants included Auxiliary Bishops Witold Mroziewski, the diocese’s vicar for migrant and ethnic apostolates, and Raymond Chappetto, as well as at least 50 priests representing different ethnic groups in the Diocese of Brooklyn.
