Brother Pat at St. Sebastian’s

Catholics around the world this week celebrated the selection of a new pope, the first ever from the United States. Pope Leo XIV was born Robert Prevost in Chicago and grew up in a suburb outside, attending a seminary high school in Holland, Mich. as part of his journey to become a priest. (During his first mass today, he called for peace on Earth and a ceasefire in Gaza.)

I am not especially religious anymore. I don’t go to church unless my mom guilts me into it, although I do love the music and the art. But I’ve long been fascinated by people who pursue a religious vocation. Every prospective priest I’ve ever met has said it’s almost indescribable, a yearning deep inside that makes them want to do something seen as so restrictive, but that they see as freeing.

I’ve written a few times about Cathedral Prep in Elmhurst, Queens, the last day seminary in the country, multiple times. That’s where I met Patrice Legoute nearly 10 years ago, when Pope Francis came to New York City. My editor Mike Ventura – known on this platform as Books on Gif, who you should subscribe to if you don’t already – told me I had a week to write my Catholic stories with the news peg of the pope. So off I went.

Legoute is now Brother Pat at my local parish, St. Sebastian’s. It was great reconnecting with him as the conclave began, hearing about that yearning still inside of him to guide parishioners in their spirituality. You can read the full story here.

Also this week I walked through Grand Central and saw a dog, which reminded me of something I’ve thought a lot about: where is Captain Cuomo, the former governor’s dog? I asked Cuomo’s spokesperson, and then hours later tried another spokesperson for the Cuomo mayoral campaign. “Don’t worry about Captain, he’s living the good life,” she said. But where?

So I took an hour out of my day, printed out two photos of Captain, and headed up to the apartment building where Cuomo reportedly lives. I asked people coming in and out of the building if they’ve seen Captain. Almost everyone was chill about it, although one guy did curse me. Nobody had seen the dog. Then one of Cuomo’s daughters showed up, and she told me Captain was in Westchester. I went to dinner and wrote the story the next day.

The Cuomo stans – the And Gang as I’m calling them – got very mad that I wrote about Captain, calling me a Karen and a bad reporter and accusing me of using filters in my photo on X (lady it’s the difference between a photo from late August and a photo from March!) But the story was funny and dumb enough to revive me during a busy week. And hey, we still don’t know exactly where Captain is, so maybe I’ll keep investigating!

The supporting cast list

The feds on Friday released hundreds of pages of documents related to the now-tossed federal investigation into Mayor Eric Adams.

Some of the biggest takeaways are further details into the lengths the mayor went to hide his many phones from the feds, as well as his desperation in raising money from volunteers he now enjoys throwing under the bus.

I asked the mayor about all this at the Haitian Cultural Parade on Saturday, and he again said it proves he did nothing wrong. I asked him why he had so many phones – 7!!!!! – but he said, hey a lot of New Yorkers have multiple phones.

I’d recommend reading our whole story, led by my colleague Greg Smith. And if you really want to get in the weeds, here are all of the unsealed documents.

And here’s a round up of how everyone else digested the documents:

POLITICO New York, NY Post, NY Times, Daily News, Gothamist, NBC New York.

Finding herself at Legoland

And finally, since today is Mother’s Day, I’m re-sharing this story and recipe my mom wrote many years ago, about traveling across county lines just to get water for soup:

I was preparing my lentil soup the other day like I do every time it starts to get cold. I grabbed lentils, onions, some cans of chunky tomato sauce, and a big pot to cook it all in. When I went to pour some water from my large sink, a memory came back to me.

My own mother didn’t have it so easy when she made lentil soup, or any soup, back when I’d help her as a little girl.

My family lived from 1948 to 1959 in a small apartment in Ozone Park, Queens, just off Liberty Avenue. My mother was from Brooklyn and was not as comfortable living in Queens, where my father was from. The food stores were different. It was more difficult to get around. Her family was far from her now, and it just wan’t the same. Queens wasn’t Brooklyn, and that’s what mattered to her. And what she liked least about our place was the water, which was then very different between the boroughs.

She swore it was “hard water” coming out of our pipes, and while she was fine drinking and cooking other things with it, with soups it was different.

“The water’s better in Brooklyn,” she’d say, insisting that the soups tasted funky created with Queens water. [Here is some history on the different water systems back then in Brooklyn and Queens]

Whenever she made soup — lentil, split pea, chicken, Italian Wedding with the tiny meatballs — we had to make the trek to my uncle’s house in City Line, Brooklyn. We had fun on the long walk to the house with better water, mostly because our jugs were empty. We spent time and had lunch with my aunt, uncle, and cousins and then filled the jugs with the “good” water.

The journey home was different. We carried full gallon containers, which seemed to get heavier with each block. We were exhausted by the time we got home, but my mom still had time to make her pot of soup. When we finally moved to 86th Street in Bensonhurst, I think we were all thankful to leave the water trip behind us, even if it’s a nice memory of my mother. She always felt most comfortable when cooking food for us, just like me, and I’m sure was thankful to cook with that better, hometown water for the rest of her life.

Here’s a recipe for my own Lentil Soup.

Franny’s Cold-Weather Lentil Soup

• 1 white onion, diced

• some olive oil (I go by sight)

• carrots, celery (put however much you have of it in the fridge)

• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 medium-sized can of crushed tomatoes

• 2 cups dry lentils

• chopped pancetta, bacon, or ham — whatever you have in the house

• 8 cups water (it’s the same anywhere in the city now)

• whatever seasonings you like — I’ll put salt, pepper, oregano, basil

In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add the onions, carrots, and celery, and cook until the onion is tender. Add the uncooked pancetta or bacon. Stir in garlic and other seasonings, and cook for about two minutes. Stir in lentils, and add water and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, and simmer for as long as you can. Serve with a loaf of Italian bread and butter.

Thanks for reading!