Columbus: Was He a Saint or a Sinner?

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 […]

The Truth Behind The Reconfiguration

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 […]

ObamaCare’s Threat To Religious Groups

For whatever reason, the influence of religious institutions upon public and private lives seems to have waned. Individuals feel more comfortable making up their own minds without seeking counsel from the Church. That carries over into the public forum as public officials seem less likely to seek proper guidance. The results, of course, is that […]

Sister Betty Made Office a Fun Place

When news came that Sister Betty Lamb, O.P., had died Sept. 19 at Maria Regina Convent in Brentwood, it was not unexpected. She was 84 and had been sick for some time, suffering from a form of dementia. She wasn’t the Betty Lamb we knew when she joined The Tablet staff in 1972. Instantaneously, she […]

Prayer Helps Span The Past Decade

Retired Bishop Thomas V. Daily remembers exactly where he was when he heard about the attacks on the Twin Towers. Bishop Daily, who was Bishop of Brooklyn at the time, was sitting in his seventh-floor office at 75 Greene Ave. in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. He was speaking with a priest of the […]

Ten Years Later, We Haven’t Forgotten

Ten years after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, it’s clear that it was a day that changed all of our lives. The attacks against America awakened us to the terrible threat of terrorism and the reality that it could to any one of us. I was driving to work […]

Yes, There’s Room In the Rectory

In one week, we survived an earthquake and a hurricane.  Who would have thought! Some managed with a little help from their friends.  Like the 28 parishioners of St. Mary Star of the Sea parish, Far Rockaway, who called their former pastor and found shelter. Far Rockaway is located in Evacuation Zone A.  Evacuation was […]

WYD Pilgrims Made Us Proud

I hope you’ve been reading The Tablet and watching The NET these past two weeks. If so, you’ve had a front-row seat on one of the most uplifting news stories of the year. If you haven’t been tuned in, and instead have been watching network TV or reading the daily newspapers, you missed it all. […]

Keeping Up With What’s Going On

In her first three days covering World Youth Day activities in Madrid, Spain, Tablet reporter Antonina Zielinska logged only six hours of sleep. Instead of relaxing, she has been taking photos and writing stories about the almost 600 pilgrims from Brooklyn and Queens who are attending the week-long gathering that culminates Sunday, Aug. 21, with […]

Gov. Carey Was a Neighborhood Guy

From all indications, the late Gov. Hugh Carey was a very successful governor and congressman.  As a homegrown product of the Brooklyn Diocese, there was always considerable pride in the Brooklyn-born politician. Gov. Carey came out of Park Slope where he attended St. Augustine Diocesan H.S. before moving on to St. John’s University and St. […]