The Gift of Our Heavenly Father

Tomorrow will be a year to the day when Father Jorge Ortiz-Garay sent me a letter asking for a grant from the Bright Christmas Campaign.

A Cultural Celebration of Life for the Late Father Jorge Ortiz-Garay

¡Ánimo, el Señor es bueno! That Spanish phrase — Cheer up, friends, God is Good! — were words that members of the diocese’s Mexican ministry said perfectly summarized their beloved priest, friend, and leader, the late Father Jorge Ortiz-Garay, who died March 27 as a result of COVID-19. Father Jorge used the phrase as a personal motto. 

For Mexican Catholics in the U.S., Biculturality Impacts All Areas of Life

Twenty-year-old Abigail Zarate is a Latino Studies student at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, a Mexican-American, a Catholic, and a first-time voter. For some, this might sound like a lot, but for her, being many things at once is part of her cultural identity and faith journey.

Only in Print: ‘Shock’ of Pandemic Hit Lay Movements Hard

Survivors of COVID-19, or even those who never had it, can still suffer its residual ravages of confusion, isolation, and loneliness — sorrows shared by lay workers for the Diocese of Brooklyn. In the pandemic’s wake, they grieve losses of family, friends, and even clergy, but they also mourn how the disease robbed them of the fellowship they enjoyed while laboring in dozens of lay movements active in the diocese.

Father Jorge Ortiz-Garay Laid to Rest in Mexico

While his parents and siblings sang in Spanish the words of St. Paul — “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” — the casket containing Father Jorge Ortiz-Garay was lowered into the ground in Mexico City.