Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:10 Welcome back to another edition of big city Catholics, our Dias and podcast here with Bishop Robert Brennan, the Bishop of Brooklyn and my myself father, Christopher HEK we're, uh, coming towards the end of this month of August coming towards the end of the summer. And we focusing we're continuing our conversation from last week, our last podcast regarding the saints in August. But before we do so we'll begin with a prayer pray in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. Amen. Amen. Hail Mary full of grace. The Lord is with the blessed art thou amongst women and blessed as the fruit of the, I wound Jesus,
Speaker 2 00:00:44 Holy Mary mother of God. Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Speaker 1 00:00:49 The name of the father and of the son of the holy spirit. Amen. Earlier this week, uh, before we get into the actual topic of our discussion, we had an incredible celebration in the diocese of Brooklyn. We, we came together at St. James cathedral Basilica for its 200th anniversary. What was that like for you?
Speaker 2 00:01:06 Oh, it was just very exciting. And it was nice that we had the chance to prepare a little bit through this podcast with Monsignor string Kowski to look forward to the day. Um, there was a very, very nice turnout of, uh, of people, a good number of priests came and, you know, this is a tough time for all people in the sense of lots of travel and lots of obligations. So given all of that, it was just right. You know, one of the challenges at the cathedral Basilica is the size. It's not as big as St Joseph's for sure, for sure. But we had just the, an appropriate amount of people there. Everybody fit in comfortably, but the church was full. Yeah. Um, very much alive.
Speaker 1 00:01:47 The sanctuary was full.
Speaker 2 00:01:49 The sanctuary was full. Yes.
Speaker 1 00:01:50 What an incredible showing of, of Bishop's. And,
Speaker 2 00:01:53 And really, we only invited the bishops from Brooklyn, New York and Markville center because this was really an event that touched all three diocese. And so it wasn't really that we reached out beyond that far out, beyond our borders and we welcomed two of our homegrown bishops, Bishop Sweeney and Bishop ATO. Uh, so yeah, just our local guys, uh, formed quite a conference. You might say. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 00:02:17 There was something you mentioned in your opening remarks that I thought was really very beautiful that our diocese, the diocese of Brooklyn participates in this New York city as two of the, of the five boroughs of New York city, but also participates east as two of the four counties of long island. I never thought of it in such a way. I think that's a really very cool way to talk about our, the collaboration between us and how we're sort of right in the center of the, of the whole
Speaker 2 00:02:43 And, and part of both. And I would say that those are two relationships that as far as I can tell, we value a great deal. I do. Those are two things. We, we feel that affinity with both diocese. Um, there there's a whole generation of men who studied in early days of Douglaston from all three diocese. And more recently now all three diocese study together, um, for a long time, Brooklyn and Markville center study together. So even among the priests, there are some bonds, but sure people live here, work in this city. People live on long island work here. This is that whole back and forth all around. So the ties are very natural. And so it was nice to be able to celebrate this day, which in a sense is the beginning of parish life on long island in Brooklyn, Queens, NASO Suffolk. This is the beginning of the church moving Eastwood. Yes.
Speaker 1 00:03:31 And the, uh, metropolitan, the Archbishop of new New York, the Cardinal Dolan was present. And he was in great form as they say, he was really crack and joke. And uh, oh,
Speaker 2 00:03:42 He was great. You know, he has a great way about him. He can be very, very funny. He was actually, he did a lot of his joking on, on Bishop Bishop
Speaker 3 00:03:50 Demasio expense <laugh>, but you can tell they have a great legacy
Speaker 2 00:03:57 Of working together of collaboration and so they can joke back forth like that. For sure. He could be funny, but then in a very gentle way, he can say something very profound and very moving. So he spoke, we used the readings of, uh, the anniversary of a church dedication and he spoke using that image from the letter of Peter of the living stones at St. James, the living stones here in Queens and in Brooklyn, you know, the people, the people of God, the generations who have passed before us, the generation just emerging now, uh, people still to come. And as I looked out while he was speaking, you know, I got a glimpse of those living stones, people from all different nations people who've given, you know, years of service to the parish, but also to the larger church and younger generation of people, new leaders being formed, um, you know, our seminarians and choirs. I, I saw the different lay orders, the different groups tonight of Columbus, um, came the religious. They were representatives of each of the religious congregations and just so many families. Wow. Yeah. You know, there, you got it. Living stones for sure. And St. Augustine often talks about these living stones. When he talks about the building of a church, they have to be kind of shaped and molded together. And that's what I saw on Sunday. Yeah. The living stones shaped and molded together to build something glorious to the praise of
Speaker 1 00:05:27 God. I also kept reflecting on, you know, when we were talking with Monsignor string Kowski in our recent podcast of the anniversary of, of St. James and the, the founding of that parish was because of a man named Peter Turner and these 70 people there that sort of petitioned the Archbishop of New York at the time for the creation of that parish. And I just thought in 200 years how those 70 people, the continued growth and evolution of that parish, you know, has taken place. How many countless sacraments have been administered in that parish? I didn't realize that there were 7,000 people, uh, buried at the, at the cemetery of St. James one, the letters that was news to me and, and actually father Peter Porro was saying that you can kind of crawl under the cathedral Basilica and you see some of the catacombs that still exist to this day under the actual church itself. So very unique. I think that's a, that would be a really
Speaker 2 00:06:29 Well, I was just gonna say, that's a nice adventure for me. I'm looking forward to that. Yeah,
Speaker 1 00:06:33 Exactly. Exactly. Don't worry
Speaker 2 00:06:35 Seeing that in the pro cathedral in Ireland, that was, you know, you go underneath there and there were the graves, I guess you'd call 'em, but really just the caskets encased inside the wall. That's right. You go through of people. Who've been there, families through generations and the Archbishop of Dublin. And then in, you go all the way under, and then just out, there were the three caskets, the caskets, the most recent Archbishop to die. And the two just before, and then eventually, then they placed, oh wow. Alongside the wall. But it's very simple.
Speaker 1 00:07:03 Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:07:04 It's very simple. It's it's not like these elaborate markers are even being entombed. It's just,
Speaker 1 00:07:09 Well, I think we might have like an idea here, like a SCO
Speaker 2 00:07:12 Toury tour St. James,
Speaker 1 00:07:14 James.
Speaker 2 00:07:15 That's right. You can go under the basil of saying Peter in Rome and they began an excavation. And so now you can see it taught so much about those early, uh, centuries of Christianity. Incredible,
Speaker 1 00:07:28 Isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. To visit that. And I know when the seminarians of the north American college, some of them have a jobs to give the tours of the cavi, the, uh, the catacombs under St. Peter's. So it was a really back to St. James, really a beautiful, beautiful day. And the weather was great. And the police, New York city police department were super supportive and, and assisting us what a, just a blessing
Speaker 2 00:07:51 I'm tremendously grateful. Yeah. Do you tremendously grateful to those who were able to be there that day,
Speaker 1 00:07:55 The next day for you was also a, a pretty awesome day. The Monday we celebrated the celebrity of the assumption of our blessed Virgin Mary
Speaker 2 00:08:03 And I moved from the cathedral to the ocean <laugh> to the
Speaker 1 00:08:06 Ocean <laugh>.
Speaker 2 00:08:08 So I was over at, uh, breezy point I'll confess. I was a little further east on, uh, the Rockaway peninsula earlier in the day to get myself into the waters.
Speaker 1 00:08:18 Oh, nice. Good for you. Good for
Speaker 2 00:08:20 You. Oh, the water was beautiful a bit. I mean, it was actually a little chilly out, but the water was just the right temperature and it was almost like a lake. And one way it was a little disappointing, cuz I like those waves. But on the other hand it was just very calm, very serene. And
Speaker 1 00:08:32 Well, I saw some photos of you at that mass and breezy point. You just had a smile from ear to ear. You were in your element. I know we know you like the, the beach and the, the water
Speaker 2 00:08:44 And, and it was great. And what a great turn out there, father, the Han brought together the parish, um, so many people out there, you know, on their own beach chairs and yeah, there were these dunes there by the, the bay, when we drove in, you could see all the people set up on the one side of the dune and on the top around it, um, and thought, wow, that's pretty impressive. Then I saw that there was an even larger gathering on the other side of the dune, right on the level of the sand. I mean, that was amazing. And people really enjoyed it. They enjoyed being together and you know, it was a special occasion. It was something in honor of the blessed mother, but also bringing all of our cares and our family concerns, you know, people go in, they all stepped into the water at the end of mass or, and children were gathering up and apparently this is a long standard tradition. They gather up buckets of water to bring it home to people who couldn't get out to the
Speaker 1 00:09:34 Beach. Oh,
Speaker 2 00:09:34 Very cool. Um, so, you know, we had Scott's blessing for safety on the waters and for the wellbeing of everybody there, there too, just very, very beautiful,
Speaker 1 00:09:44 Yeah. Breezy point, traditionally, very Irish, uh, neighborhood for many years, regardless when you walk through the little streets of, of breezy point, you just see so many families kind of ties into a little bit of, to our topic of today's, uh, podcast, which is the lives of, of saints, Monica and Augustine, who we, we celebrate in the end of August. And you know that you see these families, the kids are playing on the beach. That all seems to be bright and happy, but there are struggles in every family, you know, there are crosses and there are concerns and dreams and desires that parents have for their children as they watch them grow. And I think it's an opportunity for us to come to St. Monica and to come to St. Augustine and, and talk a little bit about family life. And,
Speaker 2 00:10:31 You know, I was in Philadelphia, um, when Pope Francis came for the world meetings of families, he certainly, he came, he visited here the New York area, but then he went to Philadelphia. That was really the purpose of his visit. And the night before the mass is people were all gathered around at the park at Benjamin Franklin Parkway. There was sort of a prayer surface of vigil service. And the story is, I, I don't know if it's true, but I hear it enough that it probably is that there was some glitch, the wrong homily was placed on the podium. And so he got up there and it wasn't the homily that he prepared himself to read. So he did something extemporaneously, just looking out at the folks and reflecting. And he, he said, what did God do before he created the world? He said, a G little girl asked him this one.
Speaker 2 00:11:19 So, you know, what did God do before he created the world? He says, I have to admit I was stumped. And he said, I thought about it. He says, you know what? He loved. That's what God did. He loved. And he used that as the entry into family life. And he spoke about how we learned things from the generations, but he had a great line. He goes, you know, family life, you try to, that's where we learn how to get along with other people. And he said, and yeah, sometimes the plates will fly boiling those plateaus <laugh> he did it in Spanish, but he, you know, he said, but, but somehow or another, this is where we have to learn how to work things out. You know, again, I often say about Christianity, it's not the land to make belief. Mm. But we, you know, try to where we learn patience and forgiveness, being forgiven, people who know us and love us as we are for who we are. That's right. And help us to grow in that way. St. Monica had a, a very unique perspective because we wouldn't exactly call Augusta the model child. Would we?
Speaker 1 00:12:21 No. For sure. For sure. <laugh> no. And, and, you know, I was reading, you know, recently about the life of St. Monica and how she waited and prayed for him and with him as she watched him live a life of pleasure and life of Daury, I guess, in some regard.
Speaker 2 00:12:40 Yeah. And it was also a life of curiosity. Hmm. And I'm not saying that to excuse any of it, but, you know, he was on a real search and that search brought him in all the wrong places, but he was also very philosophical. And in the end it was that search for truth that led him to discover God, you know, he had that vision toe take, read. Yeah. You know, pick up the Bible. So he was searching for something he, he knew. And, you know, he speaks about this in his confessions. Yeah. Our hearts are restless. So Lord, until they rest until they rest in knee, as if we were created with this some years, as Scott's talk about like this image of created with this hole inside this, this emptiness is something that's missing that can only be filled by God. It's like a cross shaped
Speaker 1 00:13:29 That's right. Hole.
Speaker 2 00:13:31 Yeah. And, and, and it can only be filled by God. And the temptation is to try to fill it with other things, with things that give, you know, temporary relief for temporary pleasure and do it all though, he was always listening to intellectuals. He was always trying to think things through, he didn't just back into Christianity. He, he was really, really struggling, really, really searching. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:13:54 And what, what an example too, of somebody who recognizes they're, they're not making up their, their mind early in life that, you know, this is what I believe, and this is that they were open to, he was constantly open. And as, I guess, you, as you, you know, to echo what you said, he was on this search for truth search out of curiosity for answers. So he didn't just stop somewhere and say, okay, this is it. This is my fulfillment. He knew that there was more, there, there was more to be, to be had. And I thought, I think that's also a point. And
Speaker 2 00:14:24 Even meeting St. Ambrose there too, he was fascinated by his intellect, but that wasn't, that didn't make the jump. It wasn't until he had that own, his own encounter with Jesus Christ. Yeah. That made the change. But you know, St Monica is a patron for mothers, for parents, but she shed many, many tears, many, many tears praying for the conversion of her son, praying, witnessing some of his, his tremendous errors and the dangers that he was putting himself into. And she becomes a model for all those families. We hoping for the best for, for the, for their children, for, especially for their grown children.
Speaker 1 00:15:09 Yeah. How many times, you know, in my priesthood and in yours, have we met parents who have said to us father Monsignor Bishop, please pray for my son, pray for my daughter, they've fallen away or they're struggling. Or,
Speaker 2 00:15:24 And sometimes they'll say, you know, I don't know what I did wrong, and maybe they did something will, but very likely not, no, maybe not very likely. They didn't. And I often try to encourage people by saying that the examples you set and the joy with which you live, your faith may have an impact beyond your greatest expectations. You know, I pray, I would tell somebody, I pray for you that you get to see it, but very, very possibly you may not see it, but at a time when it matters, the message you left will bring about an awakening for somebody to have that encounter with Jesus Christ for your son or your daughter to have that encounter with Jesus. It may be at a very important time and it could be years from now, but somehow or another God will act. God always acts. Yeah. And so we hoping we pray for that day to come.
Speaker 1 00:16:18 I, I think also when I am counseling or talking to a parent in such a way, I reflect on the, the people who are sitting in the pews on Sundays each and every Sunday, you know, that not all of them have been there every Sunday for their entire life. You know, that sometimes in their teenage years, in their college years, in their young adult life, they've stray away from the church or the practice of the faith. But then I think as you say so beautifully, and as you say, I say, thank you, say correctly, the inspiration of their parents and the life authentically lived with joy and witnessing to the faith. They're they come back. There is a, certainly a power of prayer though. That is important in all of that. And the, in intercessory prayer and St. Monica never gave up hope.
Speaker 2 00:17:08 No, she never gave up hope and she never gave up praying. Yeah. And that's it. And there is something to that. And, and Augustan sees that too. He recognizes the tears' mother shed and the prayers that she made in boy, is he ever grateful for that? In one of the parishes where I served there was, um, sort of a grassroots. It wasn't something that the parish actually said, okay, we're going to set up. And a, a prayer group. It just sort of happened. But there was a group. They called themselves the St Monica's prayer group. And it was a group of parents of most of mothers who I'll just say they had special intentions. And they came together to pray for their children. You know, they were all in different stages of life and all of that and had different concerns and cares, but they came together very regularly, very quietly. It wasn't something that was broadly advertised, but they just came together very regularly to pray. I think two things were accomplished in that time. One thing is you can never underestimate the power of prayer. Sure. What God is going to do. But the other thing is it was good for them to be together, to encourage each other. And that's part of the Christian experience. We need to be able to support and lift one another, to help each other, to keep our eyes fixed on, on Jesus. That's
Speaker 1 00:18:29 Right. Yeah. That, that sense of support, that sense of encouragement, you know, it goes back to last Sunday's readings. We were reflecting about against again, as well about that cloud of witnesses,
Speaker 2 00:18:39 That cloud of witnesses, which is what kind of leads us into today's conversation. The, the cloud of witnesses that have taken us through the month of August. That's
Speaker 1 00:18:47 Right, exactly. That's right. And the month continues to fly to its almost conclusion. And I was, we were training ultra servers at the co cathedral this past week. And I was asking the kids, are you ready to go back to school? One of the young children, I guess their charter school starts up very early. And she said she only has a week and a half left of summer. So you start to remember those days in your childhood.
Speaker 2 00:19:11 You know, when I was in Ohio in many of the counties, the schools actually start today or yesterday. Oh, wow. That was mindboggling that the summer was over on August 15th. I remember doing opening day of school masses on the feast of the assumption and saying, oh, this is,
Speaker 1 00:19:27 This is not
Speaker 2 00:19:28 To begin to act to labor day.
Speaker 1 00:19:29 Eptember exactly.
Speaker 2 00:19:31 Now they get out in may, but the end they finish the end of may. But still to me that summer is July and August. That's
Speaker 1 00:19:37 That's for
Speaker 2 00:19:37 Sure. <laugh> and when I was, I was a kid, I it's funny, I was just exchanging emails with deacon, Kevin McCormick, the superintendent of schools, cuz he sent out a note to the principals, um, talking about his recollections of the association of the feast of the assumption with the beginning of school, he said he got excited about it. One of the things I dreaded as a kid about the feast of the assumption was it was the beginning of the end. For some reason, I always associated with the announcements. The announcements at mass were things about uniform pickup and bus transportation and all of that. And I thought, oh, this is it. This is it. You know, the beginning of the end. And even into my adult life, there's something about dreading the end of some of these next two weeks. There's something that you dread the end of summer, but equally, as soon as labor day comes. And as soon as you start in September, I'm ready.
Speaker 1 00:20:29 And I think, you know, we should talk more about this too, about your excitement. Uh, this will be your first full yeah. Pastoral year, right? Yeah. And so that is exciting. Exactly.
Speaker 2 00:20:39 Yeah. It, it is. And, and I'm looking forward, you know, I got to a handful of the schools. I'm hoping to get to more of those. I'm hoping to get to some of our religious education programs. Awesome. This is gonna be exciting, but also really the whole rhythm of life. Unfortunately, father Chris, you and I have a little bit of time before that each of us will be going our own separate ways. So we are going to, uh, even though we've only started this podcast, we're going to take a two week break. So next week I'm going to be giving the retreat. We talk about the beginning of this school year, academic year, our seminarians in Douglaston and in Dunwoody are going to begin their academic year with retreat father Brett Brannan, whom I know from the Josephine will be giving the retreat to the fellows in Douglaston next week.
Speaker 2 00:21:34 And I'll be giving the retreat to the fellows in Dunwoody at St. Joseph seminary in Yonkers and Dunwoody each year. It's, it's a Bishop of Rockwell center, Brooklyn. And then the Archbishop of New York, we each take a year. So it's just happens to be the Bishop of Brooklyn's turn, which is a great chance for me. I'm I've been meeting the guys, but this will give me some time with them. So we begin with prayer. We begin by going army retreat. So that'll be this coming week that's so we won't have a podcast this coming week next week, the following week will be a little bit of vacation time. Good for you. And I think that's good for us. Yes. And I, and I think you'll be taking a little bit
Speaker 1 00:22:15 Myself as well.
Speaker 2 00:22:16 Yes. Vacation time as well. Yeah. Um, so we'll take that hiatus, but I'm gonna take this opportunity to ask all those who join us. If you would, to take some time to pray for our seminarians, pray for vocations, pray for those who are forming our seminarians, but pray for them on this week of retreat. It's admirable that they begin in prayer. Mm that's. The heart of their formation and then everything else falls into its proper place. And you know, what, if you could throw one in for me that I can give, give them maybe 2 cents of wisdom and uh, <laugh> the holy spirit and a little bit of inspiration for sure. In prayer. I'll be, be glad. But yes. So, so please do pray for all of us.
Speaker 1 00:22:58 Yeah. You can be assured certainly of my prayer Bishop and I hope that our listeners as well will join us in, in prayer for you and for, for our seminarians, that it ties in very well with our topic today. The continued conversion of us all through the prayers of, and intercessory prayers of St. Monica through the inspiration of St. Augustine through the assistance of our blessed mother, who is feasts, we celebrate during this month, all tie in as well. And let's hope for a blessed retreat and a blessed time of calmness and, and relaxation. Before we
Speaker 2 00:23:31 Start up news, a new beginning of a new new
Speaker 1 00:23:33 Experience. Amen. Bishop, will you, uh, end us with
Speaker 2 00:23:36 Prayer? Yes. You know what I think I'll use? Um, this year was one of the years for the world meeting of families that was held in Rome in June. And so we'll pray the holy father's prayer for families. Sure.
Speaker 2 00:23:48 In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. Amen. Amen. Heavenly father. We come before you to praise you and to thank you for the great gift of the family. We pray to you for all families consecrated by the sacrament of matrimony, may they rediscover each day, the grace, they have received as small domestic churches, may they know how to witness to your presence and to the love with which Christ loves the church. We pray to you for all families faced with difficulty and suffering cause by illness or circumstances of which only, you know, sustain them and make them aware of the path to holiness upon which you call them so that they may experience your infinite mercy and find new ways to grow in love. We pray to you for children and young people. May they encounter you and respond joyfully to the vocation you have in mind for them.
Speaker 2 00:24:55 We pray for parents and grandparents. May they be aware that they are signs of the fatherhood and motherhood of God in caring for the children who embody and spirit you entrust to them. And for the experience of fraternity that the family can give to the world Lord grant that each family might live their specific vocation to holiness in the church as a call to become missionary disciples in the service of life and peace in communion with our priests religious and all vocations in the church through Christ our Lord. Amen. Amen. And may almighty. God bless you and your families in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit.
Speaker 1 00:25:43 Amen. Thank you, Bishop. Great to be with you. I hope you have a blessed retreat in our seminarians as well, and a very blessed rest of the summer to you all. We'll be back in September. God bless.
