“Scarred But Not Broken” by Bishop DiMarzio

 October 31, 2013 – Excerpted from “Put Out Into the Deep,” Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet:

“Hurricane Sandy has scarred the lives of many families in our Diocese. Even after a year, some of our families have yet to move back into their own homes. Others families are permanently displaced. The trauma that was inflicted was financial, physical and psychological. We were all impacted, but to some, the super storm was devastating.

…In the days and weeks after Sandy, I visited the Rockaway Peninsula. The mountains of debris, the houses washed away, the stranded cars and sand made me wonder if we could ever recover.

As Bishop of Brooklyn, I am especially grateful to our priests whose leadership was critical to the local communities most impacted. Though many of them had lost their own homes, they soldiered on, attending to the needs of others.

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Healing Mass for One-Year Anniversary of Hurricane Sandy

October 25, 2013 – On Tuesday, October 29th at 7:30 p.m., on the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy, family and friends of one of the hardest hit parishes in the Diocese of Brooklyn will gather for a commemoration and healing Mass at St. Mary Star of the Sea in Far Rockaway.

After the super storm, thousands in this community flocked to the parish for relief. Within days, a disaster relief center was set up at the parish’s St. Gertrude’s location in nearby Edgemere, which helped many residents, both Catholic and non-Catholic.
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ONE-YEAR COMMEMORATION & HEALING MASS ON ANNIVERSARY OF HURRICANE SANDY TO BE HELD IN FAR ROCKAWAY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 25, 2013

On Tuesday, October 29th at 7:30 p.m., on the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy, family and friends of one of the hardest hit parishes in the Diocese of Brooklyn will gather for a commemoration and healing Mass at St. Mary Star of the Sea, located at 1920 New Haven Avenue, Far Rockaway.

After the super storm, thousands of those in this Far Rockaway community flocked to the parish for relief. Within days, a community-based disaster relief center was set up at the parish’s St. Gertrude’s location in nearby Edgemere, which helped many residents, both Catholic and non-Catholic.

Of the 1,200 parishioners of St. Mary of the Sea, over 60-percent are Spanish-speaking, including many undocumented immigrants who still feel the aftermath of the hurricane twelve months later.

Over 400 families participated in the D-SNAP program, where they received awards ranging between $700 and $900. This was the only program assisting storm victims that allowed the undocumented to participate. Many are left unable to qualify for any FEMA assistance due to their immigrant status. St. Mary Star of the Sea served as one of the pickup locations for Diocese-sponsored shuttle buses transporting the D-SNAP applicants to the New York City Human Resources Administration registration center in Downtown Brooklyn in mid-December 2012.

Father Fulgencio Gutierrez, pastor, said the church has assisted people in many ways, including helping them pay rent and providing clothing for children.

Tuesday’s Mass marking the one-year anniversary will be celebrated in hopes of “healing the psychological trauma of the past year, and to give thanks for the generosity of so many who responded to not only our physical needs but also to our spiritual anguish. During the first two weeks after the storm, we were isolated. There was no electricity and no transportation, but people came anyway to help clean, and distribute food and clothing to our brothers and sisters,” he said.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

Stefanie Gutierrez
917-587-2784
sgutierrez@desalesmedia.org

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First Fall Theology on Tap

October 21, 2013 – Join guest speaker Fr. Greg Rannazzisi, Vice Rector of the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception, on Tuesday, October 22 at 7 PM for the first Theology on Tap of the season.

“Truth and Tolerance: Being Catholic in a World Where Most Aren’t” is the topic. The event will be held at Manor Oktoberfest, 73-11 Yellowstone Boulevard in Forest Hills, Queens.

For more information, contact Paul A. Morisi (718-965-7300 x5556 or pmorisi@diobrook.org).

For photos and directions, go to Theology on Tap’s Facebook page (and be sure to “Like” the page!) Made possible by the Catholic Foundation of Brooklyn and Queens. 

“The Pope’s Challenging Words” by Bishop DiMarzio

October 10, 2013 — Excerpted from “Put Out Into the Deep,” Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet:Bishop DiMarzio

“…In this week when we celebrated the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, I had Pope Francis on my mind. It is certainly hard to keep up with all he is saying. After all, when the Pope identifies the two-fold crisis of the loneliness of the elderly and the unemployment of the young as the most pressing problems facing the world and Church, we have to take notice.

As we know, we deal with serious issues in our world today – war, poverty, abortion, migration and threats to the family. Yet, our Holy Father specifically references the loneliness of the elderly and youth unemployment. Perhaps these issues are proxies for Pope Francis, when he really is addressing hopelessness, the cancer of despair that is eating away at the world today.”

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Futures in Education Honors Ray Kelly and Anthony Bonomo

Futures in Education dinner

October 4, 2013 — Futures in Education will host the 2013 Annual Scholarship Fund Dinner on October 9th, in the Grand Ballroom of The Waldorf Astoria, New York City.

The Futures in Education dinner brings over 1,000 people together to raise money for scholarships for the children in Catholic schools in Brooklyn and Queens. This year, the non-profit organization will honor Honorable Raymond Kelly, Police Commissioner for the City of New York, and an alumnus of Bishop Molloy High School, Queens, and Anthony Bonomo, CEO of Administrators for the Professions, Inc., and an alumnus of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Brooklyn.

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FUTURES IN EDUCATION SCHOLARSHIP FUND TO ASSIST IMPOVERISHED STUDENTS

FUTURES LOGO 2011 - hi-res - black-white

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 2, 2013

FUTURES IN EDUCATION SCHOLARSHIP FUND TO ASSIST IMPOVERISHED STUDENTS

Futures in Education will host the 2013 Annual Scholarship Fund Dinner on October 9th, in the Grand Ballroom of The Waldorf Astoria, New York City.

“Many families want their children to have a solid education, grounded in the Catholic faith, but do not have the financial means to make that happen,” said the Most Rev. Nicholas DiMarzio, Bishop of Brooklyn. “We have over 30,000 students in our Catholic elementary schools and academies and over one-third of them fall below the poverty level of $27,000 a year. These are financial-based scholarships; children that would never get a good quality Catholic education if it was not for Futures in Education.”

The Futures in Education dinner brings over 1,000 people together to raise money for scholarships for the children in Catholic schools in Brooklyn and Queens. This year, the non-profit organization will honor Honorable Raymond Kelly, Police Commissioner for the City of New York, and an alumnus of Bishop Molloy High School, Queens, and Anthony Bonomo, CEO of Administrators for the Professions, Inc., and an alumnus of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Brooklyn.

“It is a struggle for our families to pay tuition, yet our parents choose Catholic education for their children because of our caring and nurturing environment, solid test scores, high graduation rates and acceptance into four-year universities,” said Msgr. Jamie Gigantiello, Vicar for Development of the Diocese of Brooklyn. “The leadership and support of our dinner attendees and sponsors help us in assisting underprivileged, inner-city children through the gift of education.”

More information can be found at futuresineducation.org.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Stefanie Gutierrez
917-587-2784
sgutierrez@desalesmedia.org