Bishop resigns after 18 years of leading Brooklyn Diocese
NEW YORK — Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, leader of the Diocese of Brooklyn for 18 years, announced his resignation Wednesday — with a native New Yorker named as his replacement.
DiMarzio, 77, stepped down weeks after a Vatican investigation cleared him of allegations from two men charging they were sexually abused by the priest when he was stationed in a Jersey City parish in the 1970s.
The bishop was two years past the usual retirement age for priests of his rank, and he will be replaced by Bronx-born Bishop Robert Brennan as the spiritual leader for 1.5 million Catholics in Brooklyn and Queens.
“I welcome Bishop-designate Robert Brennan as the eighth Bishop of Brooklyn,” DiMarzio tweeted Wednesday. “I have known Bishop Brennan for many years, and have great confidence in his ability to lead the Brooklyn Diocese and and build upon the pastoral achievements we have made.”
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represents both accusers, said DiMarzio’s departure will not affect the pending lawsuits. DiMarzio has denied the allegations from the outset.
“The retirement will not prevent the two separate civil lawsuits from proceeding,” he said in a statement. “The recent finding of the Vatican clearing Bishop DiMarzio of sexual abuse was the result of a biased investigation rendered by a self-serving Vatican court with a predetermined agenda.”
Brennan, 59, is an alumnus of St. John’s University and was ordained in Rockville Center, Long Island. He and DiMarzio co-celebrated a morning Mass at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph in Brooklyn to mark the changing of the guard.
—New York Daily News
16 Cuban migrants found near Key West, second landing in 2 days
MIAMI — A group of 16 men migrating from Cuba arrived on a homemade blue raft in the Lower Florida Keys Wednesday morning.
This was the second group of people migrating from Cuba to land in the island chain in two days, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.
The men arrived around 6 a.m. on the island of Boca Chica, about a mile east of Key West and the location of U.S. Naval Air Station Key West.
Adam Hoffner, spokesman for the Border Patrol, said they told agents they had been at sea for three days after leaving Havana.
Like all migrants from Cuba who are caught in the U.S. without a visa since the end of the “wet-foot, dry-foot” policy, they will be sent back to their home country. The Obama administration ended “wet-foot, dry-foot” in January 2017. The policy allowed those who set foot on U.S. land to stay in the country and apply for permanent residency after a year. Those caught at sea were taken back to Cuba.
Despite the end of the policy, federal officials have seen a spike in migration from Cuba this fiscal year, which runs from October to October.
The U.S. Coast Guard says well over 800 people from Cuba have been caught at sea en route to South Florida this fiscal year. That’s up from just 49 in fiscal year 2020.
On Tuesday, 10 Cuban men arrived on a small wooden boat in Marathon, a city in the Middle Keys.
—Miami Herald
Olympic swimmer Klete Keller pleads guilty to Capitol riot charge
Klete Keller, the five-time Olympic swimming medalist from the University of Southern California, agreed to a plea bargain Wednesday after facing seven federal charges for participating in the U.S. Capitol riot.
During a hearing in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., Keller pleaded guilty to a felony count of obstruction of an official proceeding and will cooperate with prosecutors.
“At the time, I acted to affect the government by stopping or delaying the Congressional proceeding, and, in fact, did so,” Keller wrote in a statement of offense. “I accomplished this by intimidating or coercing government personnel who were participating in or supporting the Congressional proceeding.”
Though the count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, federal sentencing guidelines for an offense charged at this level call for 21 to 27 months in prison. No date for sentencing has been set.
The non-incarceration consequences of pleading guilty to a felony include losing the rights to vote and own firearms.
Edward B. MacMahon Jr., Keller’s attorney, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Keller, 39, quickly became a focal point of public discussion in the riot’s aftermath as one of the best-known participants.
—Los Angeles Times
Democrats launch new effort to register voters of color for 2022
WASHINGTON — The Democratic National Committee launched a new program on Wednesday focused primarily on registering voters of color ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
DNC officials say the program, backed by a nearly $5 million initial investment, is the committee’s largest-ever registration push during a midterm election cycle.
The effort comes amid what DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison said is a time of “nervousness” among the party’s supporters, as they wait to see if Democratic lawmakers in Washington are able to pass key parts of President Joe Biden’s agenda.
While the voter registration effort is national, Harrison said the DNC is mindful of states with key Senate elections in 2022. A DNC press release touting the new program specifically mentioned Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Nevada, each of which is expected to have a competitive Senate race next year.
Democratic candidates traditionally rely heavily on Black, Latino, Asian American and Pacific Islander voters for support, with each group giving Biden a strong majority of their vote in 2020. But Biden still fared worse with those voters than recent Democratic presidential nominees, prompting concern among party officials that Republicans are making inroads with them.
Harrison said the money the DNC is spending on the program will include deploying field staffers to targeted areas, online outreach, phone calls and funding existing voter-registration efforts from state parties.
—McClatchy Washington Bureau
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