{"id":325450,"date":"2026-08-20T00:56:32","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T00:56:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/325450\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T00:56:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T00:56:32","slug":"diocese-of-brooklyn-prays-for-colombia-after-earthquake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/325450\/","title":{"rendered":"Diocese of Brooklyn Prays for Colombia After Earthquake"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>JACKSON HEIGHTS \u2014 As Claudia Ballestas has feared for her family in Colombia following the 7.4-magnitude earthquake on Aug. 10, she is also hopeful because of the outpouring of faith and support she has witnessed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m grateful to see all of the support that we are getting from all countries, and how Colombians have been supporting each other \u2014 that is wonderful,\u201d Ballestas told The Tablet. \u201cBecause in the middle of tragedy, we also have faith.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ballestas was one of hundreds who gathered at Blessed Sacrament Church on Aug. 18 as Bishop Robert Brennan celebrated a Mass dedicated to the people of Colombia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI pray for comfort for the people going through this difficult time,\u201d Teresa Navarro, who attended the Mass, told The Tablet. \u201cSome people lost everything. They are in the street with nothing, so I also pray for peace.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As of Aug. 19, according to the United Nations, more than 300 people have died, and at least 4,400 have been injured, with more than 400 people still missing. Tens of thousands of homes and critical infrastructure also remain destroyed.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thetablet.org\/pope-leo-prayers-colombia-earthquake\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">RELATED: Pope Leo XIV Offers Prayers, Condolences as Bishops Urge Solidarity Following Colombia Earthquake\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Bishop Brennan has asked all parishes in Brooklyn and Queens to take up a voluntary second collection to assist the people of Colombia. The diocese says it will send all donations received to Catholic Relief Services to provide direct humanitarian assistance, including shelter, food, and other essential aid.<\/p>\n<p>After the Mass, Bishop Brennan underscored the importance of prayer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMother Teresa is known for her generosity, for taking care of people. But she would always say that before we do anything, we pray, because otherwise, we\u2019re just going through emotions,\u201d Bishop Brennan told The Tablet. \u201cIf we pray, we bring a certain power \u2014 the power of God \u2014 with us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Father Carlos Agudelo, pastor of St. Leo the Great Church in Corona, was in Colombia when the earthquake struck. He acknowledged that the earthquake\u2019s devastation is \u201cdiscouraging,\u201d but, like Bishop Brennan, he also reminded parishioners to trust their faith.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt has been said that every crisis is an opportunity, and that\u2019s how we Colombians see this \u2014 as an opportunity to strengthen our relationship with God,\u201d Father Agudelo said in his homily. \u201cTo reconcile with him, an opportunity to strengthen our bones without any political affiliation or border between us.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are Colombian, we are humanity, and we are children of the same earth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">HOW TO DONATE FUNDS AND HELP COLOMBIA:<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-280912 aligncenter\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" data-lazy- data-lazy- data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/CHECK-600x300.jpg\"\/><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-280912 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/CHECK-600x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\"  \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Make checks payable to the COMPOSTELA FUND OF THE RC DIOCESE OF BROOKLYN, with the notation \u201cCOLOMBIA.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Mail them to:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Diocesan Finance Office at 310 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn, NY 11215<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSON HEIGHTS \u2014 As Claudia Ballestas has feared for her family in Colombia following the 7.4-magnitude earthquake on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325451,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-325450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}