US

Denver Newsroom, Nov 22, 2020 / 03:01 pm (CNA).- For one Catholic businessman in New York City, Thanksgiving has long been a time of sacrifice and generosity. For each of the past four years, Alphonse Catanese and his wife have donated hundreds of turkeys to needy families in the city.

This year, amid the toll of the coronavirus pandemic, the Cataneses have stepped up their giving to ensure the needy of Brooklyn and Queens still get a fitting Thanksgiving dinner.

“With the help of God, we’ll continue to do it,” Alphonse told CNA.

When Alphonse was a kid, every November his dad would load hundreds of turkeys into a dump truck, pick up Alphonse and his brother from school, and together they would drive to brickyards and supply yards around Brooklyn.

They would visit all the people his father worked with throughout the year, give them a turkey at 12 o’clock on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Then Alphonse’ dad would release all his employees early so they could prepare to celebrate the next day.

“I could never figure out why we used to do this. One day we finally ask our father and he goes, ‘You gotta understand. It’s nice to help people and Thanksgiving is a special time of year,” Alphonse recalled.

Alphonse’ dad died in 2006, and Alphonse and his brother inherited the family business. Since his retirement, Alphonse has done real estate management and development and runs a company that does apartment upgrades and improvements.

“One day, I was sitting around and talking to my wife like, ‘Remember how it used to be this time of the year? We’d go crazy, pick up turkeys, put them in the dump truck, go out and take care of everybody?’” he said.

His wife suggested he revive the tradition, so he approached Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens— for whom he had done construction work in the past— to see what he could do.

Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens has hosted a Turkey and Trimming Giveaway for over a decade. Each person gets a voucher for a turkey and a basket of items such as dinner rolls, cranberry sauce, and stuffing to complete the Thanksgiving meal.

This year they’ve already distributed nearly 1,600 turkeys and 1,200 produce boxes to families in need.

In 2016, Alphonse and his wife Maria became lead sponsors of the giveaway, donating about 700 turkeys. They’ve kept that commitment every year since.

“Anybody can write a check or send a donation. But I gotta tell you, it’s truly a great feeling. You hand that person a turkey— the person will turn and look at you and they say ‘thank you.’ And you know it’s a genuine thank you,” Alphonse commented.

CCBQ has seen demand for its services skyrocket during the pandemic. A spokesman told CNA this week that many of the food pantries they operate year-round have seen a tenfold increase in demand since March.

CCBQ’s twenty food pantries are now serving twice as many families on a regular basis as they were last year, as more and more families turn to the charity for help. All told, CCBQ has served 1.2 million meals since the start of the pandemic, the spokesman said.

This year, the Cataneses stepped up their donation, despite the additional challenges wrought by the coronavirus pandemic. In addition to their regular 700 turkeys to Catholic Charities, the Cataneses also donated 200 to a local church.

While their commitment number to Catholic Charities was the same, the availability and cost of the turkeys was affected by the pandemic.

This year, Alphonse said they were forced to purchase larger sized turkeys than usual, at an increased cost. The reason? Smaller turkeys are flying off the shelves this year, making them harder to come by.
 
While many people are choosing to stay home and have smaller Thanksgiving celebrations this year, this actually means there will likely be a greater number of— albeit smaller— Thanksgiving feasts taking place across the country this year. People are buying smaller turkeys for these smaller gatherings.

For the most part, that shift left only larger turkeys available for Alphonse to purchase.

“On average they were 2-4 pounds larger,” he explained.

Alphonse said his business took a revenue hit during the pandemic, since many construction projects ceased during the lockdown.

But he resolved not to waver from their annual commitment to donate the turkeys, recalling, “There are a lot of people in a position worse than us.”

Alphonse said he will often see the same needy people coming back year after year to get their Thanksgiving turkey.

“There’s definitely a recurring need, and you see people who truly need it…This year we’re going to help 900 people. It’s a small amount compared to the millions of people that are in need, but from our end we’re doing as much as we can.”

Alphonse said he is thankful that he is fortunate enough to be able to help so many people, and he encouraged others to help the poor as much as they are able.

“We take a lot of things for granted, like food on our table. But when you go to the sites at the various neighborhoods and people come out with a basket … you really see that people are in need, and they genuinely appreciate this.”

[…]

CNA Staff, Nov 22, 2020 / 03:13 am (CNA).- American Christians must be better advocates for the world’s persecuted Christians, said speakers at a Thursday event featuring victims of persecution, religious leaders, and global experts.

Cardinal Ti… […]

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 21, 2020 / 04:37 pm (CNA).- With nearly all U.S. House and Senate races decided, Congress will be sharply divided the next two years—possibly undermining the viability of extreme pro-abortion policies.

A Senate maj… […]

CNA Staff, Nov 20, 2020 / 07:01 pm (CNA).- The Diocese of Tulsa has withdrawn from the Oklahoma Council of Churches because the group will not defend the life of unborn children from abortion, its bishop said earlier this month.

The OCC “will not commit itself to defending the right to life of babies in the womb, the most marginalized, mistreated, abused and discriminated against group in the country,” Bishop David Konderla wrote in a statement dated Nov. 6.

“I believe that a Christian group that wants to publish moral statements but cannot agree that abortion is a grave evil should continue without the Catholic diocese as a co-signer of its statements.”

Bishop Konderla’s decision was prompted by a statement on racism and anti-discrimination prepared by the Christian council. The statement affirmed the “equality and equity of all God’s children, without exception, and that no person should experience discrimination regardless of their sex, religion, race, immigration status, sexual orientation, political affiliation, age, gender identity/gender expression, ability, or socio-economic status.”

It committed to advocating for “equal access to healthcare”, but did not refer to abortion, as the members of the coalition do not agree in their beliefs about the problem.

Bishop Konderla wrote that “The reason I decided to leave formal membership in the OCC is because I believe that although the OCC wants to make a strong moral statement, its statement amounts to a house built on sand.”

“In my view racism and unjust discrimination are issues that require and deserve moral clarity and consistency,” he continued.

The bishops said the OCC’s statement on racism and anti-discrimination, “with its glaring exclusion of the most vulnerable group of persons in our midst, is rendered at best inconsistent or even politically motivated.”

“This is the reason I did not want to be a cosigner of the statement. Nor is this the first time I have needed to pass on co-signing a statement the OCC wanted to make and for a similar reason.”

The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City had earlier left the OCC, in similar circumstances.

Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City withdrew from the group in September 2018, writing to its executive director and president of the board that he had “been concerned in recent months by a change of tone,” shifting from what he identified as “ecumenism and Christian witness to secular politics.”

“The ecumenical spirit is willing to embrace a ‘both/and’ attitude, where as politics thrives on creating and [sic] ‘either/or’ dichotomy,” the archbishop wrote.

Shannon Fleck, a minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), became executive director of the OCC in June 2018.

Bishop Konderla publicized his own letter to Fleck which severed the Tulsa diocese’s membership in the OCC.

“I believe that such an organization should be able to be forthright in its defense of the unborn and of the institution of marriage between one man and one woman.  Gender theory increasingly threatens religious liberty and the fundamental right of parents to educate and catechize their children and must be guarded against,” the bishop wrote.

He added that the diocese “will continue to collaborate where our paths cross.”

“But at this time, the areas of crossover are so peripheral that I think it is clearer that we not be listed as a member.”

In his statement, Bishop Konderla noted that LGBT persons should be protected against unjust discrimination, citing the Catechism of the Catholic Church’s statement to that effect.

The bishop wished to clarify, because he said an article in The Tulsa World “left the impression that I do not believe that persons with a same sex attraction or a gender discordance, often referred to as LGBTQ, should be protected against discrimination. This is erroneous.”

He added that the Church “has also been clear that racism is a sin and must be fought against at all times.”

Fleck said Nov. 18 that since its founding in 1972 the OCC “has not taken a stance on either side of this issue [abortion] because our denominations are not all in agreement and they’ve known that.”

[…]

Denver Newsroom, Nov 19, 2020 / 04:10 pm (CNA).- Two pro-life groups are suing Washington D.C., alleging that the city discriminated against their pro-life viewpoints by refusing to grant permission to paint or chalk messages on the street, while allow… […]