Young adults of Williamsburg! On Thursday, February 25th at 6:45 PM, please join us at Divine Mercy Parish for our second Young Adult Holy Hour! Mother Revelacion, SSVM, will give a special meditation on chastity and Divine Mercy for the Holy Year of Mercy. Dinner at Carmine’s to follow. Hope you can join!
The details: St. Nicholas Church, 6:45, February 25th, L train to Grand Street, five minute walk.
For more information about Diocesan events, go to meetmein.church.
February 17, 2016 – Excerpted from Put Out Into The Deep, Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet:
My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,
Last week, we celebrated the World Day of the Sick. This remembrance of the sick coincides with the February 11th Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. In his message for this day, “Entrusting Oneself to the Merciful Jesus like Mary: ‘Do whatever He tells you’ (Jn 2:5),” our Holy Father, Pope Francis, uses the Gospel scene of the Wedding at Cana to remind us of the intercessory power of Mary. It was Mary at Cana who recognized that the wine was running short. She appealed to her Son, Jesus, to do something for the newly married couple, who would be in distress. After retreating from Jesus, Mary simply told the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.” Pope Francis tells us that if we can learn to obey these words of Mary, Jesus will change the water of our lives into precious wine.
Sometimes the reality of sickness and the suffering that it brings is hard for us to accept. Perhaps it is most difficult to understand when a child becomes ill. Parents often feel helpless when they see their child in pain. Many pray that they might suffer in their son or daughter’s place. Later in life, it is chronic illness that often plagues the elderly. This chronic illness can lead to depression or despair.
Read the full text of the Bishop’s column on The Tablet website.
February 10, 2016 – Excerpted from Put Out Into the Deep, Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet:
My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,
February is the month for those in love. The Feast of St. Valentine has become a day that focuses on cards, candy, flowers and even diamond rings. However, the history of St. Valentine’s Day is not founded on material tokens of affection, but rather on St. Valentine, an early martyr of the Church, who gave his life as a witness to the love of Jesus Christ.
According to tradition, Valentine was imprisoned for marrying and ministering to Christians, during a time of persecution. While in confinement, he wrote to those who cared about him, always signing his letters, “Your Valentine.”
However the tradition began, it has become one of the most economically successful days of the year, next to Christmas and Halloween. It is interesting to see how these feasts days of the Church have generated secular interest and economic value, but it is important to remember and reflect on the traditions’ deeper meanings.
Read the full text of the Bishop’s column on The Tablet website.
February 3, 2016 – Excerpted from Put Out Into the Deep, Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet:
My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,
As we prepare to begin Lent in this Jubilee Year of Mercy, we must be attentive to the “Message of His Holiness Pope Francis for Lent 2016.” Our Holy Father has chosen the theme, “The works of mercy on the road of the Jubilee,” citing the words that Jesus repeats in the Gospel of Matthew, the words of the Psalm, “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.” (Mt 9:13).
In this Year of Mercy, our Holy Father reminds us of this in his new book, “The Name of God is Mercy.” We do not know God by any other attribute but one that is merciful. Pope Francis reminds us that the mystery of Divine Mercy is revealed in the history of the Covenant between God and the people of Israel. Time and time again, the people of Israel broke the Covenant relationship, but God was always faithful to the Covenant and redeemed His unfaithful children. Finally, it was in the New Covenant made in the blood of Jesus Christ that the boundless mercy of God is shown by making Christ “mercy incarnate.” Yes, Jesus Christ is for us the true face of mercy, the face of God who is so merciful to us, who are sinners.
Read the full text of the Bishop’s column on The Tablet website.
NET TV, a Catholic television station headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, announced availability expansion on Verizon Fios. NET TV’s original Catholic programming is now available on Channel 48 in the New York metropolitan area and beyond.
“This partnership with Verizon allows us to provide a new home to New York Catholics over at Channel 48,” said Monsignor Kieran Harrington, Chairman of DeSales Media Group, parent company of NET TV. “We are thankful that our distribution partners recognize the importance of making Catholic programming available to all, as we strive to do our very best to help introduce Christ to today’s society,” he added.
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January 20, 2016 – Excerpted from Put Out Into The Deep, Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet:
My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,
January has been designated as Poverty Awareness Month by many organizations. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops joins with the Catholic Campaign for Human Development in calling attention to the issue of poverty, especially in our own country.
We are following the example of our Holy Father, Pope Francis, who in his encyclical, The Joy of the Gospel, Evangelii Gaudium, clearly stated what he said at the beginning of his pontificate, “I want a Church which is poor for the poor.”
This seemingly radical statement has many implications. If the Church is to serve the poor, then the Church itself must certainly act as the poor do, meaning that it must be dependent on the providence of God and not rely on its own resources. The poor necessarily are dependent on others for the basic necessities of life. There is no special charism that the poor have to be able to bear the burden of their poverty.
Read the full text of the Bishop’s column on The Tablet website.
December 16, 2015 – Excerpted from Put Out Into the Deep, Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet:
My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,
Christmas came early this year in Queens when a desperate mother left her newborn infant in the just erected Nativity scene at Holy Child Jesus Church in Richmond Hill where Bishop Octavio Cisneros is pastor. Certainly, it was a much better ending for that child than the two newborn infants who have been discovered thrown from buildings in the past month.
As we progress in Advent, we saw a terrible massacre at the Planned Parenthood office in Colorado Springs. The deranged assailant mumbling about body parts of babies somehow justified in his mind the violence he perpetrated against innocent people. And early this month, the carnage in San Bernardino, California, reminds us that domestic terrorism, especially inspired by international terrorism, is very much a problem which we need to confront in our society today.
There was a telling headline in one of our most read newspapers saying, “God Isn’t Fixing This.” Yes, how true it is that God cannot fix the problem of evil in our world which we have contributed to in so many ways as individuals and as a society. No, there is no miracle fix to the problem of evil, especially as it is manifested in violence in our society. We must realize that the United States, unfortunately, is one of the most violent societies in the world today. Notwithstanding war-torn areas, the violence perpetrated in our society many times is less vivid but just as real. The violence of abortion, child abuse, domestic abuse, as well as crimes perpetrated on innocent victims points to the basic change needed in our society. How can we make a difference in teaching the dignity of human life and respect for persons? Is it the movies which our children watch, the video games or, most probably, the violence in families which only is later manifested outside the home? What can be done?
Read the full text of the Bishop’s column on The Tablet website.
Forty-nine people were honored on Nov. 1 with papal honors distributed by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio at St. Joseph’s Co-Cathedral, Prospect Heights. More than 1,000 people attended the vespers service and conferral of honors.
Auxiliary Bishop Raymond Chappetto, vicar general, read the names of the recipients, who then came to the sanctuary to accept the awards from Bishop DiMarzio. Read more in The Tablet
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December 9, 2015 – Excerpted from Put Out Into the Deep, Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet:
My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,
One of the most annoying, and I might say dangerous, obstacles in driving on the streets of the City of New York are the potholes. It seems that no one can keep up with repairing them, as they pop up unexpectedly here and there all the time.
As Deacon Jaime Varela is driving me to and from Masses or other events, we find that we are able to call some “craters!” Truly, potholes are dangerous in that one can break an axle, seriously damage a tire or two or even have an accident trying to avoid one. One of my most famous lines to Deacon Jaime is that the farm roads in the rural areas of the Diocese of Camden, where I served before I came to Brooklyn, were better than the roads of New York City. Well, what can one do about potholes? Complain to the city administration? Avoid them? Or, as most of us do, put up with them?
In last Sunday’s Gospel, John the Baptist is speaking out about human potholes, the potholes of our lives. Prepare the way of the Lord, making the winding roads straight and the rough roads smooth. In order to arrive at a true celebration of Christmas, we need to deal with the potholes in our lives, the impediments that keep us from recognizing our Savior who has come to save us, mostly from ourselves and our faults, as well as the dangerous potholes of our lives.
Read the full text of the Bishop’s column on The Tablet website.
DeSales Media Group has launched a new bilingual online prayer community entitled Pray For Me (Reza por Mí). Located at www.dioceseofbrooklyn.org/prayforme, the site enables users to submit their own intentions and also to pray for others who have posted on the site.
“Inspired in Pope Francis’ prayer request refrain ‘Please, pray for me’, we wanted to provide a place where people can request prayers as well as pray for each other’s intentions. Pray for Me is very simple to use, to ask for support, pray for one another, and create a community of prayer,” said Monsignor Kieran Harrington, Chairman of DeSales Media Group.
Pray For Me provides a uniquely Catholic aspect to prayer intentions. The Sisters Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará, a contemplative order of nuns cloistered in Borough Park, Brooklyn, will be praying for all submitted intentions from 5:45 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. DeSales Media submits intentions on a daily basis to the nuns, who spend their lives in silence, adoration, and prayer.
The site features two options: “Request a Prayer” and “Pray for Someone.” Users select a prayer topic (Depression, Grief, Family, Finances, Healing, Marriage, Vocations, etc,), type in their personal message, and select whether they would like their prayer posted on the page so community members can pray for them. There is also an option to email the intention to the person that one is praying for. In addition, users can choose to pray for another person by reading the intentions listed on the right-hand side of the site, and clicking the “I prayed for you” button.
To submit a prayer and/or pray for someone’s intentions, visit www.dioceseofbrooklyn.org/prayforme.
DeSales Media is the communications and technology arm of the Diocese of Brooklyn, publishing Catholic news, information, entertainment and religious programming across all media. Their properties include the weekly diocesan newspaper The Tablet, the monthly Hispanic newspaper Nuestra Voz, the cable network New Evangelization Television NET TV and the Catholic Telemedia Network (CTN).
