Bart Jones

Long Island

Religion Reporter at Newsday

@Newsday religion, immigration and general news reporter. Author of HUGO! Chavez. Venezuela @AP alum.

Articles

Boulder firebombing, 'epidemic' of antisemitic attacks condemned by Long Island Jewish leaders

4 days ago | newsday.com | Bart Jones

Long Island Jewish leaders on Monday denounced what one called the “extraordinary cancer of antisemitism that has spread” as two more attacks over the last week including the killing of two Israeli embassy workers rattled the community in the United States. “It's horrifying. It's now become an epidemic,” said Rabbi Michael White, head of Temple Sinai of Roslyn.
Pride Month 2025: LGBTQ+ community faces renewed challenges

1 week ago | newsday.com | Bart Jones |Nicholas Grasso

This year’s Pride Month is the most important one in a generation for the LGBTQ+ community, according to advocates, amid fears that decades of progress will be overturned by President Donald Trump. The reaction to Trump’s moves against the LGBTQ+ community — including officially declaring there are only two sexes: male and female — ranges from avoiding confrontation to defiance, organizers said.
Deported from U.S., LI brothers struggle in El Salvador

1 week ago | newsday.com | Bart Jones

Josue Trejo Lopez joined ROTC as a high school freshman and dreamed of one day serving as a U.S. Air Force pilot. A leader in his church youth group, he was supposed to graduate from high school last Wednesday. Instead, earlier this month his wrists, legs and waist were shackled as he was deported to his native El Salvador, part of a nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration under the Trump administration. "I felt terrible. I was like, is this really happening?
Central Islip brothers who'd lived in U.S. for 10 years deported to El Salvador

3 weeks ago | newsday.com | Bart Jones

Two young men from Central Islip have been deported to El Salvador even though they have lived in the United States much of their lives and contend they had permission to remain here while their immigration cases wound through the system. Now, they say, they feel like strangers in a land they left as boys and are afraid to go out on the streets of the capital city of San Salvador. "We feel strange," Jose Alexander Trejo Lopez, 20, said in a Zoom call on Thursday from El Salvador.
How Pope Leo XIV might respond to Trump policies, according to experts

3 weeks ago | newsday.com | Bart Jones

Pope Leo XIV, the first American pontiff, is expected to act as a papal bulwark against President Donald Trump's immigration policies, experts say, as well as against some of Trump's other policies. "Pope Leo is today the most powerful and influential American on the planet," said Steven Millies, a professor at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. "He’ll be a counterweight to Donald Trump simply because he is already more powerful than Donald Trump. ...
How an American defied the long odds to become Pope Leo XIV

4 weeks ago | newsday.com | Bart Jones

It was supposed to be nearly impossible: an American getting elected pope. But it happened on Thursday, stunning Vatican experts and millions of the faithful in the pews alike. The elevation of Chicago-native Robert Francis Prevost appeared to come from a confluence of factors, analysts said on Friday. He was a longtime missionary in Peru, he headed a major international religious order, and he held a top Vatican post.
Election of Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, first American pope, stuns, elates Long Islanders

1 month ago | newsday.com | Bart Jones

Some Long Island Catholics reacted with shock but also joy and hope to the election of Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost as the first American pope. "I am absolutely stunned," said Richard Koubek, community outreach coordinator for Long Island Jobs for Justice and a lifelong Catholic. He said he was especially thrilled that the new pontiff had chosen the name of Pope Leo XIV, since Pope Leo XIII was the founder of Catholic social justice teachings.
LI priest attends Mass in St. Peter's before start of conclave

1 month ago | newsday.com | Bart Jones

The Rev. Michael Duffy arrived at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome three hours before the start of a 10 a.m. Mass on Wednesday that kicked off the conclave that will elect the next pope. But the wait was more than worth it for Duffy, who is rector of the Cathedral of St. Agnes parish in Rockville Centre.
Successor to Pope Francis likely to be in his 70s, experts say

1 month ago | newsday.com | Bart Jones

It’s one of the hardest jobs on the planet, requiring frequent international travel, overseeing a vast bureaucracy, and handling everything from major real estate holdings to hot-button cultural issues. Yet whoever is elected pope — a lifetime appointment — is typically at an age when most people are retired or close to it. Sometimes being a younger man even hurts a cardinal’s chances of getting selected to lead the 1.4 billon strong Roman Catholic Church, according to Vatican experts.
Why Cardinal Timothy Dolan, fellow Americans are unlikely to be elected pope

1 month ago | newsday.com | Bart Jones

Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the archbishop of Newark, New Jersey, might be considered a strong candidate to become pope, according to longtime Vatican observers. He has a pastoral approach and charisma not unlike Pope Francis, is a proven administrator, has global experience and speaks five languages. But he has one major problem: He’s an American. The Roman Catholic Church has had 266 popes during its 2,000-year history, dating to St. Peter, the first.