75-Year-Old St. Mel’s Puts on a New Look

Surrounded by dozens of priests and hundreds of parishioners, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio rededicated the newly refurbished St. Mel’s Church Sept. 9. The parish is marking 75 years of service to the Flushing and Whitestone communities.

‘Saint’ of India Finds a Home in Queens

For the first time, a statue of Our Lady of Velankanni, commemorating apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in southeastern India, is resting next to the altar area of a church in the Diocese of Brooklyn.

33 New Participants Begin Ministry Prep

Thirty-three new participants are joining the 100 others currently participating in the diocesan Lay Ministry Program. At an orientation session, the School of Evangelization’s Pastoral Institute welcomed them as they begin their formal training to serve as lay pastoral leaders in parishes.

Firehouse Mass Recalls Sacrifice of Heroes

Firefighters from Ladder 131, Engine 279 marked the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks with moments of silence and a memorial Mass inside their Red Hook firehouse.

Mozart Adds to Local Sounds of Remembrance

St. Joseph’s Co-Cathedral, Prospect Heights, reverberated with the sounds of the 18th century when Mozart’s Requiem was performed as part of a 9/11 remembrance liturgy. Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio was the main celebrant of the annual liturgy for the 23 members of FDNY Battalion 57 who died on Sept. 11, 2001 in the terrorists’ attacks on the World Trade Center.

Flushing Parish Aids Nicaraguan Mission

St. Kevin’s Mission Team, Flushing, participated in a week-long mission in late August to the abandoned, developmentally disabled children and young adults of the Mustard Seed Communities in Nicaragua.

Mother Teresa in Brooklyn

Mother Teresa was no stranger to Brooklyn, who made several visits to the borough where she established convents for her Missionaries of Charity in Bushwick and Bedford-Stuyvesant.