At this moment in America, people are being smothered by anti-immigrant sentiment. In August, I stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts and ordered, in English, two bagels with bacon, egg, and cheese. The employee gave me a long, strange look, as if analyzing me, and said, “No Spanish.”
My dad, Vincent LeVien, works for the Diocese of Brooklyn. As a result, my family is often invited to attend special Church events. In April, we traveled to Italy for the canonization of then-Blessed Carlo Acutis, but it was canceled after Pope Francis died. So, instead of the canonization, we were there for the funeral of a pope, which is something I never thought I would get to witness.
A recent pilgrimage to Belize with the diocese’s Vicariate of Black Catholic Concerns’ Youth Leadership Ambassador Program revealed sides of me I never knew existed. These new qualities will not only help me grow closer to my community, but also deepen my relationship with Christ.
Ah, sweet summer. Time for rest and relaxation. For many, it’s also the season for travel. Whether a faraway adventure or closer-to-home road trip, let us pray for traveling mercies.
Time is running out. If there is no veto, New York will become the 12th state to pass a version of this assisted suicide bill that manipulates our teaching on the sanctity of life.
I am a psychotherapist — a mental health professional — who went to an institute for training over 20 years ago.
These days, we bishops (in Brooklyn) average 10-12 celebrations of confirmation in the spring season and 4-6 in the fall. For the past 12 years, since my ordination as a bishop in 2012, one of the most joyful experiences I have encountered is the celebration of the sacrament of confirmation.
he upcoming beatification of Father Michael McGivney (below), founder of the Knights of Columbus, was a poignant reminder of my family’s history in the Knights during its infancy in New Haven, Connecticut. My paternal great-grandfathers — Hugh Augustus Burns and William J. Fitzgerald — were members of that first council. Both had Brooklyn roots and lived in Ansonia, Connecticut, on the outskirts of New Haven, where the Knights began.
Oct. 28 marks the Feast of Sts. Simon and Jude, Apostles. Tradition holds they were martyred together in the first century while preaching the Gospel in Persia, and their remains were later moved to St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, where a single tomb commemorates them to this day.
Why am I, a secular Jewish girl, the product of an interfaith marriage (Jewish mother, Catholic father), so concerned about a class ring from a defunct Brooklyn parochial school dating back to before I was born?
