The lights finally came back on at the San Damiano Mission Catholic Church after nearly nine months when the pandemic began. Parishioners were welcomed back with masked smiles and open arms as Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio celebrated the reopening Mass, which took place on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary.
With a helping hand from the Knights of Columbus, the Shrine Church of Our Lady of Solace dedicated a new statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe in a ceremony on Dec. 12. The previous statue was seriously damaged by a vandal who toppled it from its perch and threw it to the ground on Sept. 11,
The 220 attendees also paid loving honor to the late Father Jorge Ortiz-Garay, who died in March of COVID-19.
A ruling issued by a Brooklyn federal judge ordering the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to cease its efforts to chip away at DACA is being hailed by immigrant rights advocates in the Diocese of Brooklyn.
The central message throughout the first virtual Christmas luncheon presented by the Catholic Foundation for Brooklyn and Queens (CFBQ) was clear: even during a pandemic, one can still get into the Christmas spirit and help support the diocese’s youth.
There’s nothing like seeing children’s eyes open wide when they spot wrapped gifts underneath a decorated Christmas tree. Their sprint to the tree reminds one of previous Christmas Day mornings when Santa did get your letter and brought you everything on your list. But being with family while opening up those gifts is really what it’s all about, especially at Hour Children.
Pope John XXIII once said, “Mankind is a great, an immense family … This is proved by what we feel in our hearts at Christmas.” The Christmas spirit will still be alive — albeit in modified ways, due to the pandemic — thanks to how Catholic parishes and dioceses will continue their annual programming.
The Test for Admission into Catholic High Schools (TACHS), which was administered online last month due to the pandemic, seemed to go off without a hitch. More than 10,000 eighth-graders from Catholic, public, and private schools in the Diocese of Brooklyn, the Archdiocese of New York, and the Diocese of Rockville Centre, took the exam this year.
Advent is upon us, and parishes have placed their wreaths with four candles on the altar in keeping with the Catholic Church’s teachings. But there are many Catholics unaware of the significance of their deeper meaning.
As the COVID-19 rages on, pastors in the Diocese of Brooklyn are coming up with ways to keep their churches financially afloat during the pandemic when social distancing rules are sharply curtailing attendance at Masses and most revenue streams have been brought to a halt.
