I need to clarify the wording on a letter I mailed last week asking for donations to The Tablet’s Bright Christmas Appeal. In it, I wrote, “Last year, you responded by sending me more than $100,000, which went directly to help someone in need.” Since it began arriving in readers’ homes, we’ve been receiving calls […]

In last week’s column, I announced a new system for distributing Bright Christmas grants.  Some pastors have told me that they don’t really need help at Christmas because of the extraordinary assistance from other sources. So, they suggested that I send the money where it is better needed. This year, we are asking parishes and […]

So, the Brooklyn Museum has done it again. It was back in 1999 that the once revered institution in Crown Heights hosted “Sensation,” an exhibit that featured elephant dung and pictures of female genitalia on a “portrait” of the Blessed Mother. This time, it plans to show “Hide/Seek,” which the museum bills as “the first […]

Now that the DeSales Media Group has been legally incorporated, I get to work both on The Tablet and The NET. So, not only do I have a vested interest in the contents of the diocesan newspaper, but I’m also more interested in the shows that are seen on the diocesan television channel. The NET […]

I went to St. James Cathedral-Basilica, Downtown Brooklyn, in search of the remnants of the original tombs of Brooklyn’s first two bishops — John Loughlin and Charles E. McDonnell. I thought it would be a good All Souls Day piece for Currents, our daily news show on The NET. I had heard that the sarcophagus […]

St. Bernadette’s School, Dyker Heights, raised more money than any other elementary school in the diocese in 2010 to help the world’s Catholic missionaries.  The boys and girls brought in $10,828 which they dedicated to the missions through the diocesan office of the Propagation of the Faith. In Queens, the school with highest total of […]

It took two events to honor the award winners at this year’s Shining Stars Dinners, sponsored by the diocese’s Catholic Migration Services.  Thirty-one people, one from each of the ethnic apostolates served in the diocese, were chosen for their dedication and service to the Church and community. Both ceremonies were held at Gargiulo’s, Coney Island, […]

I was thinking about Christopher Columbus, of all people, over the Columbus Day weekend. I was wondering what ever happened to the movement to have him beatified and eventually become a saint in the Catholic Church. By all measures, he was a devout Catholic whose crew members publicly recited prayers on his ships. One of […]

This week we begin a special series on these pages and on The NET. For the past year and a half, the diocese has been actively involved in an intense process known as Christ Jesus, Our Hope. Parishes have been asked to take a hard look at themselves and to establish plans to assure that […]