Real Journalism written by people
Red Hook resident Leroy Branch is a lay deacon of the Catholic Church, assigned to the Parish of St. Paul and St. Agnes in Cobble Hill. If you’ve ever attended a Mass with Deacon Leroy on the altar, either proclaiming the gospel, reading the Prayer of the Faithful or announcing “The Mass is ended, go in peace” in his booming […]
How the Diocese of Brooklyn Observes Holy Week Christians all over the world will mark the beginning of Holy Week on Palm Sunday, April 9. Palm Sunday, also known as Passion Sunday, commemorates Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. The distribution and waving of palms is symbolic of Jesus’ impending victory over death. Palms placed on graves during the Easter season further […]
According to Diana Ortiz, a long-time Red Hook resident and active volunteer with Visitation Church, Father Claudio Antecini announced on Sunday, January 29 that the archdiocese had given him a second six-year assignment at the Red Hook church. However, a group of unhappy parishioners tells a different story. “I haven’t heard if he was offered another six years,” explained Michael […]
On January 27, after a week in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order placing an immediate 90-day travel ban on people entering the United States from the largely Muslim countries of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan, and Yemen. The order also called for a 120-day ban on all refugee programs and closed the door indefinitely on refugees […]
Bishop Neil Tiedemann, C.P., Brooklyn native and former pastor of Visitation BVM Church, has returned to the Diocese of Brooklyn. Following his term as pastor of Visitation from 1998 to 2005, Father Tiedemann was ordained a bishop in 2008 and named Bishop of Mandeville in Jamaica, W.I. by Pope Benedict XVI. Bishop Tiedemann resided in Mandeville until last year when […]
Mary Dudine Kyle, a co-owner of Dry Dock on Van Brunt Street, knows that the holiday lights in Red Hook are special. “When you’re driving back from someplace else that’s really stupid, and you’re sitting at a cocktail party talking to people that you just have to, and all of a sudden, you come to the top of Van Brunt […]
In a large Catholic church located on Verona Street, on the corner of Coffey Park, a massive fresco of the crucifixion overlooks the altar with commanding presence. The 1898 fresco, a painting method done with watercolors on wet plaster, acts as a eye-catching focal point in the large gothic revival-style church. Last year, if you would have entered Visitation of […]
At the end of October, hired decorators, musicians, lighting specialists, and workmen spent a week preparing the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church. They assembled a full-size piano inside the church, draped green ivy down the choir loft, and filled the aisles and main altar with warm-toned fall leaves and branches. From the outside, a man hired to do […]
The news this summer has been rampant with violence in the form of terrorist attacks, police shootings and ambush attacks on police officers. These hot topics have undoubtedly led to a great deal of nationwide tension. We asked several local clergy members to weigh in on the situation. Monsignor Joseph Nugent, pastor of both St. Agnes and St. Paul’s […]
Every time I go to Mass at St. Stephen’s Church, I usually find my eyes tearing up midway through the service. There are a number of reasons for this kind of emotional eruption. The interior’s cathedral height and warm, ivory brightness creates an all too familiar homecoming not just to God, but to its mostly Italian parishioners who have been […]
Noted poet, playwright, author and Carroll Gardens’ native, Vito Gentile, returned to Sacred Hearts/St. Stephen Church on Sunday, December 6th to share poems, including those from his book, Fifty Poems About Christmas, and excerpts from his memoir, Little Christmas. Gentile, who grew up on 4th Place, attended school at St. Mary Star of the Sea and worshipped at both St. […]
With the city abuzz with excitement over Pope Francis’ long anticipated visit to NYC on September 24 -25, a number of locals were fortunate enough to participate in the various planned events. Upon his arrival at JFK Airport, the Pope was greeted by a group of Catholic school children. SHSS parishioner, 5 year old Maria Teresa Heyer, while lifted […]
Two local parishes ventured outside their church buildings and celebrated outdoor Masses in honor of the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday, August 15. The parish of Sacred Hearts of Jesus & Mary/St. Stephen held a noontime Mass in front of the church on Summit Street which was closed to traffic. The altar was set […]
