City Councilman Robert Holden offered a glimmer of hope that a popular universal pre-K program at Sacred Heart Catholic Academy in Glendale that was targeted for closure might not have to shut its doors after all.
Diocesan News
A Brief History: The Practice of Sprinkling Ashes
Though American Catholics are used to receiving their ashes from thumb to forehead on Ash Wednesday, this year, ashes will be sprinkled on their heads. The gesture and practice of sprinkling ashes, however, has a longstanding history within Jewish and Catholic traditions.
Bishop Healy Vaulted From Slavery to Servant of God
James Augustine Healy in 1875 became the first bishop of African-American heritage in the U.S. He was the son of an Irish cotton planter father and a mixed-race mother who was a slave. This family from Georgia also produced two other priests, two nuns, a hardware dealer, and a famous ship captain.
Diocesan Bishops Visit Schools Virtually During Catholic Schools Week
Even though the pandemic changed how this year’s Catholic Schools Week could be celebrated, the spirit was still alive and well across schools in the Diocese of Brooklyn.
Lenten Regulations 2021
We soon will enter the Season of Lent during an extraordinary time as we continue to face the pandemic which has caused so much suffering already. In some ways, it is itself a penance as is all suffering if we can unite it to the sufferings of Christ as we live in hope for the victory of the Resurrection.
Only in Print: Love Prevails: Wedding Bells Continue to Ring Across Diocese
For Katrina Calvacca-Burger, having the opportunity to still hold her wedding on Oct. 24, 2020, at St. Mary Gate of Heaven Parish (Ozone Park) meant everything.
Friends, Not Foes: Queens City Councilmen Reach Across Political Aisle
At a time when the country feels like it has been torn apart by polarization, City Council members Eric Ulrich and Paul Vallone are proof that friendship transcends politics.
High School Peer Guidance Program Builds Everlasting Bonds
Archbishop Molloy High School’s Peer Guidance Program proved to be more crucial than ever when the pandemic upended students’ lives in the spring of 2020. It has been a staple in the Queens high school’s curriculum since 1973, as an offshoot of the late Brother Leo Richard Morris and Sheila Murphy’s Something More in Life’s Experience afterschool program in 1964.
‘A Lantern During Dark Times’: School Rallies Behind Teacher, Family Affected by Fire
One of the most terrifying moments teacher Emily Espinal and her family ever experienced was a fire that spread from a next-door neighbor’s attic to their home last month. A few days into 2021, the bedroom of Espinal’s 6-year-old daughter Mia — filled with newly opened Christmas presents on the second floor — was extensively damaged in the middle of the night. Espinal and her family made it out of their house, unharmed, on Jan. 3.
St. Mel’s Experiences ‘Rebirth’ After Reopening as Early Childhood Center
St. Mel’s Catholic Academy — which had been slated to permanently close after 59 years as a kindergarten through eighth-grade school on Aug. 31, 2020 — received a second chance by becoming an early childhood center in the fall of 2020.