Local Youth Still Inspired by World Youth Day, a Year After Panama

A year after World Youth Day 2019 in Panama, the impact of the pilgrimage is still being felt by local youth who attended the event. About 200 Catholics from Brooklyn and Queens went to Panama, along with 700,000 young people from around the world looking up to deepen their faith and listen to Pope Francis.

Around the Church Bells: Blessed, Broken and Given

Young people were able to encounter the church in a big way as they prayed with nearly 20,000 teens from more than 100 dioceses at the National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC). The Diocese of Brooklyn brought teens from St. Thomas Aquinas, Flatlands; St. Sebastian’s, Woodside; St. Dominic’s, Bensonhurst, and St. Mark’s, Sheepshead Bay.

Let Them Speak: More Than Just a Saint

Saint Philomena, the patron saint of youth and babies, died on Aug. 10, 304, at the age of 13. She was canonized in 1837 and her feast day is Aug.11. An interesting fact is that she died on a Friday at 3 p.m. just like when Jesus did on Good Friday.

Number of ‘Nones’ are Increasing in the U.S.

A Pew Research Center study released on Oct. 17 shows that Americans who identify as “nones” — those describing themselves as atheists or agnostics or having no religious affiliation — are the biggest group in the country, outnumbering Catholics.

United as One, Young Church

It took more than nine months of planning, but for the first time, the “One Youth Rally” retreat on Oct. 5 brought together teens from the 10 different Queens parishes within Deanery 5 for a a variety of opportunities for the youth to grow in their faith.