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.
The 220 attendees also paid loving honor to the late Father Jorge Ortiz-Garay, who died in March of COVID-19.
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, joined by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, on Tuesday, Dec. 8, unveiled the sculpture, “Angels Unawares,” at the Soldiers and Sailors Arch in Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza. The annual lighting of the plaza’s Christmas tree followed the unveiling.
A duplicate rendering of “Angels Unawares” is touring the U.S., with a stop in Brooklyn to serve as the Nativity scene for the Diocese of Brooklyn in Grand Army Plaza of Prospect Park. Its unveiling is set for early Tuesday evening, Dec. 8, along with the annual Christmas tree lighting, also in the plaza.
Two weeks after Election Day, President Donald Trump had not eased up on challenging the voting results. Reconciliation of the citizenry seemed elusive. But leaders of the Catholic clergy in Brooklyn and across the nation reminded the Church of its unique role in helping the nation heal.
The Diocese of Brooklyn has filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court, asking that the highest court in the land agree to hear its case against Gov. Andrew Cuomo on First Amendment grounds. The diocese charged that imposing strict attendance — in some cases, as little as 10 people at the Mass — violates religious freedom.
The new transitional deacons received weekend assignments in local diocese and continue their studies during the rest of the week until they complete their four-year seminary training and become ordained priests in May.
Auxiliary Bishop Octavio Cisneros, a native Cuban who came to the U.S. as a teenage refugee in the early 1960s without his parents, became a priest and served the Diocese of Brooklyn for 49 years, officially retired from his post on Oct. 30, after Pope Francis accepted his resignation.
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio joined African American priests in Diocese of Brooklyn to celebrate the naming of Cardinal-designate Wilton Gregory, who currently serves as archbishop of Washington. He will be the first African American cardinal in the United States.
On the evening of Oct. 16, Judge Nicholas Garaufis denied the diocese’s request for a preliminary injunction to halt restrictions imposed on houses of worship by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
