Father Jorge Ortiz-Garay
St. Brigid’s Catholic Church (Brooklyn, NY)
The first Catholic priest known to have died of the coronavirus in the United States, Father Ortiz-Garay spent the last years of his life at St. Brigid’s, a parish in a working class area on the edge of Bushwick. He was well known for his outreach to Latino immigrants in Brooklyn, particularly those who came from Mexico, like he did as a young man. Born in 1971 to a wealthy family in Mexico City, he became a lawyer and was engaged to be married when he felt a call to the priesthood. He left his fiancée and his legal practice, studied first in Italy and then at a seminary in Newark, and became a priest in 2004. He died from complications related to the coronavirus on March 27 at the age of 49.
[…] Hailey Herrera was a promising therapist with a God-given gift for helping others and giving good advice. Only 25 years old, she was working on her Master’s in Marriage and Family Counseling when she caught the virus while seeing patients as an intern. Her mother used to call her “Dear Abby” because everyone would come to her for advice. Ms. Herrera died on April 7.Detective Cedric Dixon served with the New York Police Department. He was assigned to Harlem’s 32nd Precinct in Manhattan North and was the first uniformed officer in the NYPD to succumb to the coronavirus.Lila Althea Fenwick always knew that she was going to become a lawyer and she never saw obstacles growing up in harlem. Her parents migrated from Trinidad and were successful landlords, owning several properties in Harlem. Fendwick went on to study at Harvard Law School, the first Black woman and one of the first women to graduate. At her graduation in 1956, she was one of less than a dozen women in her class of several hundred. She paved the way for women like Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsburg, who started at the school the year after Fenwick graduated. Attorney Fenwick had a splendid career as a human rights leader at the United Nations. She died on April 4 of complications related to COVID-19 at the age of 87.On March 9, Zororo Makamba, a popular TV host, returned home to Zimbabwe after an 8-day visit to New York. He reported flu-like symptoms and developed a fever. Three days after he was diagnosed with the coronavirus, Makamba – son of Zimbabwe’s wealthy media mogul James Makamba – died in a Harare hospital on March 23. The graduate of Michigan State University and New York Film Academy was 30 years old.The coronavirus is taking lives beyond our ability to fathom and without regard for age, race, geography or status. Rich and poor are dying, and class and pedigree provide no blockage against this deadly plague. In most cases, the discriminating factor is hospital care and who has access to ventilators and those who do not. This impact is being felt all across the globe and in our local communities. Numbered among those we have lost are actors, writers, politicians, bankers, physicians and nurses, police, developers, journalists, historians, animators, engineers, architects, producers, war heroes, lawyers, musicians, educators, drivers – a seemingly unstoppable list of men and women.Clergy and faith leaders that are true to their divine calling are almost always on the frontline. They engage their congregations in worship to the Creator and are present at birth and death for the communities they serve. In times of rejoicing, they are there – and in times of sickness, difficulties and death, these men and women are present to give comfort, encourage healing, validate successes, challenge growth, and then, sometimes, just to show presence! The number of clergy ranks high among those we have lost.The Christian Times expresses condolences and sympathy to the families of all those who have experienced loss during this coronavirus season, including the men and women who lead in faith.Unfortunately, the list continues each week …For more information, visit: https://nychristiantimes.com/2020/05/those-we-lost/ […]
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