When U.S. Navy ships entered New York Harbor through the Narrows on the morning of May 22 to start the annual weeklong Fleet Week, students from Fontbonne Hall Academy, Bay Ridge, lined the Brooklyn shore at the Fort Hamilton Army base to show their appreciation.
Excitement reigned as 18 permanent deacons and one transitional deacon were ordained May 25 at St. Joseph’s Co- Cathedral, Brooklyn, by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio.
Eleven seminarians participated in the ceremony, including Luis Marquez and Randy Nguyen of the Diocese of Brooklyn, who both completed their graduate courses in Catholic philosophical studies. Both will now move on to a major seminary.
Father Pedro Francisco Angucho López, 31, said it was the grace of God and his mother’s prayers that finally got him to realize the importance of his vocation. Also, people, even total strangers, kept telling him that he was meant to be a priest.
Father Michael Francis Falce, who will turn 27 on the day he will offer his first Mass of thanksgiving, has had a pretty good idea about what he wanted to do with his life from an early age.
Obiaeri grew up in Nigeria in a region that is 70 percent Catholic. His whole family is Catholic. He extended that family to his parish where he spent most of his free time. He didn’t play that much soccer with the other kids; he was helping in the church and was part of various groups.
Father Edwin Alexander Ortiz, 35, has spent most of his life in service. He served at his parish and a cemetery in Queens, as a U.S. Marines medic in Japan and in the U.S. Navy in Washington, D.C.
Citing declining enrollment and higher expenses, St. Joseph H.S., Downtown Brooklyn, said it will shut down after the upcoming 2019-2020 academic year.
Father Patrick Keating has been appointed by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio as the new Economo of the Brooklyn Diocese.
On a warm, sunny and solemn Memorial Day, more than 100 faithful gathered at St. John Cemetery in Middle Village for the diocese’s annual field Mass.
