Holy water fonts have remained dry since churches in Brooklyn and Queens reopened on May 26, due to health and safety measures. However, companies and entrepreneurs have gotten creative while expressing their faith by building touch-free holy water font dispensers.
About 30 members of the Asian faith community at Basilica Regina parish assemble for the weekly cleanup each Sunday after their noon Chinese-language Mass. Msgr. Ronald Marino, pastor, said their work is courageous, especially while Asian people across the U.S. face violent hate crimes or verbal abuse and blame-laying for the pandemic.
Educator Helen Keller once said, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” It’s a mantra that can be applied to the teams who work simultaneously at the Catholic Foundation for Brooklyn and Queens (CFBQ) and Futures in Education (FIE) for Brooklyn and Queens.
Unpaid rent in New York City, estimated at $1-to-2 billion, could cause a serious ripple effect, and landlords say they fear having to absorb most of it.
March 2021 began with a flurry of calls for Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign, be impeached, or stripped of executive powers the Legislature approved last year to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
By learning the scriptures, local followers of the Focolare movement find ways to be like Jesus, which opens doors to serious exchanges between Catholics and other religions. Service to people in need is also key, so some members volunteered to assemble respirators soon after the COVID-19 pandemic reached New York City.
The thematic arc of “A Concert for Healing” allows viewers of this online performance to experience Christ’s power of redemption, said its organizers at St. Pancras Church, Glendale, Queens. It was videotaped and produced at the church to help its members mend from a tumultuous year for their parish.
Father Brian Shanley is the new president of St. John’s University, with a start date of Feb. 1, 2021. He is the former president of Providence College, Providence, R.I., where he earned notoriety for improving campus facilities, increasing the faculty, and building a more diverse student body.
When Father Michael Garvey arrived for his shift as a chaplain at the Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola, Florida, on Dec. 15, his first stop was the coronavirus floor, right now full with 24 patients.
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.
