For more than six decades, Msgr. James Kelly’s law office on Wyckoff Avenue has handled standing-room-only crowds of clients seeking U.S. citizenship.
Author: Bill Miller
The Unsung Hero Behind Brooklyn’s First Black Catholic Community
In 1915, a group of black Catholics met at a home on Pacific Street in Prospect Heights, across from what is today the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph. The Spanish Colonial-style church with two bell towers was completed just three years earlier to replace the previous parish church, which was built in 1861, the same year the American Civil War began.
Frassati Fellowship of NYC Unites to Travel for Mission Work in Remote Communities
Although the island of Jamaica’s mission field is vast, one Manhattan-based Catholic group has taken it upon itself to concentrate on a single community — St. Theresa’s Parish in the northeastern coastal town of Annotto Bay.
Anne Frank’s Legacy: A Journey Through the ‘Secret Annex’ in New York and a Woman’s Fight To Share Anne’s Diary
In August 1944, Miep Gies opened the “secret annex” in her employer’s office building where Nazis had just arrested her boss, Otto Frank, who was hiding there with his family — wife Edith and daughters Margot and Anne.
Panelists Discuss Spiritual Journeys of Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati
Two young men from Italy to be canonized this year still prove that holiness is not just for saints, according to a panel discussion on Feb. 16 at the annual Catholic conference, the New York Encounter.
How a Son of Former Slaves Became the Rockefeller of New York City’s Oyster Restaurants
Thomas Downing — a freeman born to formerly enslaved people in Virginia — became one of the city’s wealthiest citizens as the proprietor of his world-famous oyster restaurant in Lower Manhattan.
Could a Former Slave Who Defied Danger Join the Saintly Six on Path to Sainthood?
In 1878, yellow fever swept the lower Mississippi Valley, bringing chaos and killing an estimated 5,000 people in Memphis, Tennessee.
Family Remembers Mother for Advocacy, Vision for Racial Harmony
On the evening of Thursday, April 4, 1968, Donna Grimes was eagerly anticipating her 12th birthday when chaos erupted in her hometown of Washington, D.C.
Dominican Sister at Transfiguration Renews Vows on Feast Day of Our Lady of Altagracia
Sister Yárelin Ventura renewed her vows on Jan. 21 after arriving in the United States from the Dominican Republic two months earlier.
Reflecting on the Legacy of the Nicene Creed 1,700 Years Later
By today’s terminology, Athanasius of Alexandria might be called a “boy genius” or a prodigy. But back in 325 A.D., in his mid-20s, he was a church deacon known for his intellect and oratory. That year, he accompanied his bishop, Alexander of Alexandria, to Nicaea (in what is now Turkey) to assist at a council convened by the Roman Emperor Constantine.