New York State, with just under 20 million people, has more cases of COVID-19 than any country in the world. On Easter Sunday alone, 671 New Yorkers died from the disease. This has been the most painful Holy Week of our lives.
Author: Jorge I. Dominguez-Lopez
Priests Volunteering to Give Last Rites
Two weeks ago, the Archdiocese of Chicago, under the leadership of Cardinal Blase Cupich, decided to recruit a group of volunteer priests to visit and give last rites to terminally ill coronavirus patients.
Your Brother Will Rise Again
On Friday, March 27, I received the news that Father Jorge Ortiz-Garay had died of COVID-19, becoming the first priest believed to have died of coronavirus in the United States.
Pope: ‘We Implore You … Wake Up, Lord!’
On Friday, March 27, under a persistent light rain coming down from a gray Roman sky, and facing an empty St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis imparted a special Urbi et Orbi, the blessing “to the City [of Rome] and to the World” that is normally only given on Christmas and Easter.
Priests in Ireland Under Pressure to Celebrate Funeral Masses During the Pandemic
Despite regulations established by civil and ecclesiastical authorities to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, many priests in remote areas of Ireland are feeling pressure to celebrate funeral Masses. In rural parishes, funerals are “big occasions for the community,” according to Father Brendan Hoban, co-founder of the Irish Association of Catholic Priests.
A Dangerous Distortion of History
This has been the strangest Lent of our lives, as it will be during the Holy Week we start this Sunday. The crowds that usually fill our churches with palm leaves in their hands, won’t be there. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the suspension of Masses and the closing of churches.
Father Jorge Ortiz-Garay, First Catholic Priest in US to Die of Coronavirus
Father Jorge Ortiz-Garay, pastor of St. Brigid’s parish in Wyckoff Heights, Brooklyn, died of coronavirus this Friday.
Bishop DiMarzio Encourages the Faithful to Pray the Rosary
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio released a video on the Feast of the Annunciation, March 25, when the Church celebrates the Archangel Gabriel’s apparition to the Virgin Mary to tell her that she was to be the Mother of God.
Virtual Community, Real Prayers
“Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; / Lord, hear my voice! / Let your ears be attentive / to my voice in supplication.”
Stravinsky, March Madness, And the Coronavirus Pandemic
On Thursday, March 12, within a five-minute span, I received three big pieces of news: my youngest son’s school was going to close due to a coronavirus case in the district; the Archdiocese of New York was closing its schools to avoid spreading the virus; and the New York Philharmonic decided to cancel all its performances for a week.