This Ash Wednesday, priests and bishops across the Diocese of Brooklyn imposed ashes in a new way due to the ongoing pandemic. Under Pope Francis’ recommendation, ashes were sprinkled on worshippers’ heads instead of drawing the sign of the cross on the forehead.
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.
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.
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 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.
Local Catholic High School Athletic Association (CHSAA) schools are feeling frustrated with the lack of communication from city officials as to if high-risk sports can be played for the remainder of the academic year. The State Department of Health (DOH) announced on Jan. 22 that high-risk sports could resume Feb. 1 — but the final decision still needs to be made by city health authorities.
In today’s digital age, young people are becoming more exposed to the behind-the-scenes of technology, including learning how to write code. At St. Brigid-St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Academy in Bushwick, junior high students are doing just that since September 2020 with their math and science teacher Jose Martinez.
Fontbonne Hall The Lab School for Girls has earned the College Board’s 2020 AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award for expanding young women’s access to Advanced Placement (AP) Computer Science Principles (CSP). Fontbonne was one of 831 schools to be nationally recognized for this achievement.
Stained glass windows are the last items installed when a church is under construction, but they are anything but an afterthought.
Anthony Mastrogiulio uses his experiences to help others.
