Ed Wilkinson, a member of The Tablet staff for more than 45 years, is Editor Emeritus. He received a B.A. in Philosophy from Cathedral College and studied theology for a year at Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, N.Y. He is an active parishioner at Our Lady of Angels parish in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
Below is a Currents News special about Wilkinson as well as an archive of his columns from The Tablet.
That the West Indian Day Parade actually took place at all was something of a miracle. For days, weather forecasters had predicted dire possibilities from Hurricane Hermine. The storm took a fortunate turn out to sea and Labor Day turned out to be a beautifully sunny day along Eastern Pkwy. in Crown Heights where the annual festival is held.
As Mother Teresa is raised to the dignity of sainthood this weekend, memories of her visits to Brooklyn are still vivid in our minds. The Missionaries of Charity, the order founded by Mother Teresa, have two convents here in Brooklyn. One is located in Our Lady of Victory parish, Bedford-Stuyvesant, and the other is a contemplative house in Our Lady of Lourdes, Bushwick.
Little known to most Brooklynites today is the one-time community of Barren Island. It was an actual island off the southern shore of Brooklyn, near the end of Flatbush Ave.
For the past two weeks, I’ve been writing about the first two bishops of Brooklyn on the occasion of the return of their mortal remains to the diocese. The third bishop’s coffin to be interred in Douglaston on Aug. 3 belonged to the third Bishop of Brooklyn, Archbishop Thomas E. Molloy.
Last week, I told you about the first Bishop of Brooklyn as his remains were brought back to the diocese. Along with Bishop John Loughlin, the diocese’s second bishop, Charles E. McDonnell, was also moved to the bishops’ crypt in Douglaston.
The diocese’s first three bishops – John Loughlin, Charles E. McDonnell, and Thomas E. Molloy – returned home this past week. Their mortal remains were moved Aug. 3 from their resting places at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception, Huntington, L.I., to the bishops’ crypt in Immaculate Conception Pastoral Center, Douglaston.
The brutal “beheading” of 84-year-old Father Jacques Hamel in France by radical Islamic terrorists is yet another sign that the worldwide jihad is real and that there are no limits to what these brutal fanatics will do.
Hillary Clinton’s selection of Sen. Tim Kaine as her vice presidential running mate resurfaces the old question about a Catholic politician’s stance on the beginning of life.
One plank of the Republican Party’s platform that is not getting a lot of publicity is worth our attention. It could be an important game changer when it comes to the Church and politics. Presidential candidate Donald Trump introduced his vice presidential pick by reviewing a list of the issues the team would be supporting.
You would think that it is simple common sense to protect women who undergo the surgical procedure of abortion. Of course, we see it as much more. We see abortion as the taking of innocent life. But the law in this country – much to its shame – claims women have a “right” to destroy life within their wombs. The least you could do is to make sure the lives of women are not in danger as they suffer through abortions.
