As the city is on the mend from a year of COVID-19 restrictions, fierce, unprovoked attacks on people of Asian heritage have erupted during the first few months of 2021. Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio says the Catholic faith has a role in dealing with the hate, but ultimately it is a moral issue in the heart of each person.
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.
