By Father William J. Byron, S.J. As the Thanksgiving season quickly spills over into Advent and Christmas, many people find themselves remarking that this is their favorite time of the year. Thanksgiving Day is, of course, a secular feast day, and we know Christmas is not. And most of those who speak of “the holidays” […]
On Dec. 12 and 13 at 7:45 p.m., the music department of St. Francis Prep, Fresh Meadows, will be presenting its annual Christmas concerts. “You can’t anticipate what your experience will be unless you’re immersed in the process,” said senior violinist Joanna Kanellopoulos. Like many of her peers, Kanellopoulos did not start playing violin until […]
By Carol Powell The liturgical season of Advent is here once again. This is a time when we prepare not only to celebrate the birth of Christ but to remind ourselves of the Second Coming of Christ at the end of time. We are also asked to prepare our hearts and to purify our lives […]
The St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr, Ozone Park, ninth-grade boys’ CYO basketball team defeated St. Joseph’s, Astoria, 56-52, to win the championship of the CYO Christmas Tournament. This year’s team was made up of Michael Bode, Travis Zurita, Angelo Ranieri, Damon Calcada, Jose Velazquez, Ben Balcarcel, Isaac Stumme, Hector […]
The Christmas season is a time known for its traditions, from putting up lights and stockings, to singing carols and of course displaying a Christmas tree. But there’s a tradition that lives on today that has been passed on from generation to generation: the construction of a presepio, a Nativity scene depicting the birth of […]
The Our Lady of the Snows (OLS), North Floral Park, Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) program recently donated $282 toward the diocesan Philippines’ relief effort and also donated $359 to the OLS Human Concerns Center. Pictured with the OLS sub-novice girls’ basketball team is Joan Geiger, OLS Human Concerns Center director, and Father Kevin McBrien, pastor […]
The social justice ministries of St. Augustine’s Church, Park Slope, provides services to children whose fathers are incarcerated, and services to parents, including parenting classes and advocacy and assistance with family relationships. Every year, program volunteers, like those pictured, write out Christmas cards to men who are incarcerated.
. Over 700 students from all over the diocese entered into the annual Keep Christ in Christmas art contest co-sponsored by the Archbishop John Hughes Council No. 481 of the Knights of Columbus and The Tablet newspaper. From those, 11 winners walked away with a medal. Their work was judged to best exemplify the theme, […]
The temptation to expect each Christmas to be a reprise of storybook models, reality-free, where innocence is spared the inevitable confrontation with the mystery of evil is less likely to hit us this year. As the day approaches, we adults customarily form a little pact between our children and the child within us to once […]
Write your caption for this photo which was recently posted on Catholic News Service and e-mail it to ewilkinson@diobrook.org (subject line: Christmas Caption Contest). Hurry! The deadline is Dec. 20. The best caption wins.
