Episode Transcript
[00:00:10] Speaker A: Welcome to another edition of our diocesan podcast, Big City Catholics, with Bishop Robert Brennan, the diocesan bishop of Brooklyn, and myself, Father Christopher Henhew, the rector of the co cathedral of St. Joseph and St. Teresa of Avila Parish. Happy to welcome you back. Good time to get together to chat with Bishop about the upcoming weeks, the summer months that we're entering into. But before we begin, let us start with prayer. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
[00:00:40] Speaker B: Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
[00:00:45] Speaker A: In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, amen. So, bishop, it has been a while since we last sat together, just the.
[00:00:50] Speaker B: Two of us, sitting and talking. We had a special edition with Father Chris O'Connor. We celebrated the jubilees of priests celebrating 25 years. We didn't have any 50 years. We had a couple of sixties and a couple of, he wasn't a jubilarian, but Father Dominic Cotrone was there as a guest of one of the Jubilerians and he was celebrating that very day, 69 years as a priest. Isn't that a great blessing?
[00:01:13] Speaker A: That's incredible.
[00:01:14] Speaker B: You know, so these months have had some good things. So we were talking with Father Chris O'Connor on the day of the Jubilee celebration, and it was a great, great celebration. And each of the priests who came had a couple of guests with them. For me it was just a great lift and it was so nice to have that chance to talk to Father Wakana.
[00:01:33] Speaker A: I really enjoyed our chat with him. It was very edifying, especially, I think you had just been celebrating your 35th anniversary, he with his 25th, and the little kid here with hardly nine years yet under my belt, but edifying to hear his experiences, his different parish experiences, and just to realize what a blessing the priesthood is for so many.
[00:01:52] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:01:53] Speaker A: For us.
[00:01:54] Speaker B: You know, I was talking with Father Fante yesterday, and among the other things he does as part of ongoing formation of priests, he has a program for the recently ordained priest. So in the last couple of years, and he concluded this pastoral year with the senior priests. He had about four senior priests talking to the newer priests. And that must have been really a great exchange.
[00:02:16] Speaker A: Exactly, exactly.
[00:02:18] Speaker B: Sharing of wisdom.
[00:02:19] Speaker A: Before that we had another great priest from Columbus, Ohio, Father Stas, who was.
[00:02:24] Speaker B: Talked about the Sacred Heart Congress, the enthronement of the Sacred Heart, merely celebrating that feast of the Sacred Heart. Looking now ahead to the jubilee year, which is fast approaching the Holy Year, 2025. And at the same time, this jubilee year, the 350th anniversary of the revelation of the. The Sacred Heart of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. So we're coming into a year that's special. But that devotion to the Sacred Heart is such a powerful one in the church. There's the custom every first Friday of using the votive mass. I generally, outside of the season's advent, Lent, Easter, I generally, on Fridays, offer a vote of mass. If there's not a saint for that day, the Sacred Heart, it's just a constant reminder of humanity, of Christ, of the love of Christ, of his nearness to us.
[00:03:14] Speaker A: I had asked my parents after we had that nice conversation with Father Stasia. I said, you know, where is our image of the sacred Heart? And my mother said, oh, we have one. I said, oh, well, where is it? She said, well, it's in the basement by the laundry machine. I said, well, we need to bring that upstairs. So we're bringing it upstairs now, so it'll be in a more prominent place. That's what Father Stasi had said. You know, not just a picture on the wall, but don't put it in a place like that's fine.
[00:03:40] Speaker B: Laundry room's not the worst place in the world, because at least there's human activity.
[00:03:43] Speaker A: The laundry room. And then, bishop, you recently had a chance to gather with all the bishops of the country at the USCCB meeting.
[00:03:50] Speaker B: So we have meetings every year in November and in June, the June 1 is typically a little bit lighter. And every third year is something of a retreat, more of a spiritual nature. So this year it was in Louisville, Kentucky, and it was one of the business meetings, but not a heavy duty meeting. We spoke about some of the issues in terms of. We approved the new breviary. We started the conversation about the new translation of the breviary, the office that priests and deacons and religious pray every day that many lay people pray. The first vote was in 2012.
[00:04:26] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:04:27] Speaker B: And we took the last vote this last week. So now it goes to Rome for the recognizio. So if your abbreviary is wearing out, I wouldn't tell you not to buy a new one yet.
[00:04:35] Speaker A: But might be another thing.
[00:04:38] Speaker B: Maybe you can hold out hope, use the electronic version for a while.
[00:04:41] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly.
[00:04:43] Speaker B: But we finished that work. We talked a little bit about the eucharistic revival that's coming up. Took care of some business, some pastoral work, pastoral letters, something that had begun in the fall. We came back to, in terms of a letter for those working in parts of the country where there were reservations, native american reservations. And actually that brings me to part of what my work was that week. It wasn't so much the big meetings. It was really that we started our committees, and in November, you remember, I'll be taking up, I'm chair elect of the committee on cultural diversity in the church. And that consists of a number of subcommittees. So they invited me to sit on the meeting this week, but now I have the task of asking other bishops to chair the various subcommittees. So I was doing a little bit of that work during the course of the week. And so that was a good experience that was eye opening. And I learned a lot about the work that that committee does and the people who work to serve that office and the consultants. So I'm looking forward to that. That'll be a nice adventure. You know, I always say I bring two qualifications to that. Brooklyn and Queens.
[00:05:49] Speaker A: I was going to say, this is your resume right here.
[00:05:52] Speaker B: That's it. It's Brooklyn and Queens. But it's also a great chance of learning experience for me. It's a learning experience. I'm really looking forward to doing that work with the other people.
[00:06:02] Speaker A: Speaking of cultural diversity, you had this great event, this ultrea that happened in Pennsylvania, where members of the Curcio movement drove what is like 2 hours, 2 hours at least hour drive from Brooklyn.
[00:06:16] Speaker B: Brooklyn, okay. From downtown Brooklyn, it's about 2 hours, five minutes. Okay. Of course, people come from various parts of Brooklyn and Queens, and on a Saturday morning they could get out at a reasonable amount of time. Getting home probably was a little more of an adventure for those living a little further east or south or whatever. The Otrea, from what I understand, it's like an old spanish word, and the spanish equivalent would be Adelante. Moving on the crusade of the weekends to make a weekend is a big deal. And basically these ultreas are chances to reconnect and to move forward, to share the experience and to talk about how the Lord is working in each individual's life and in the family. So the day itself starts off with different devotions and confessions, and people are gathering throughout. We have mass, I guess around noontime. Then there's picnic. They use the grounds.
[00:07:10] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:07:10] Speaker B: We're at the shrine of our lady of Shasta Hova. Of course, it's a polish devotion and polish priests are there, but it's a large enough space and it is something of a pilgrimage, and there's plenty of grounds there's a retreat house up there. So people gather according to parishes and the different movements in the cacia movement. And then at a certain point people come back. Not everybody, because a lot of people go up with their whole family, but the Casillistas. They went back to the chapel and that's when they did the Otreis. They had some witness talks and then people responded. I stayed outside with the other guests and I just kept talking, greeting a.
[00:07:46] Speaker A: Lot of, I mean, there's almost 2000 people, I heard that's impressive. Parishioners from Brooklyn and Queens.
[00:07:52] Speaker B: That's right. Taking over who take part in the Casilla movement and their families, of course. So, yeah, you know, it's an important thing, the Casilla, the expression is de colores, de colores, de colores. And there's a song, de colores. And I always wondered, what is that all about? De colores means colors of colors. And I tried to figure it out, but I found out basically it's our faith, it's our relationship with Jesus Christ that brings color to our life, that brings joy to our life, that fills us. You know, we're reading this week from the sermon on the mount and, you know, Jesus addresses all the lies, if you will, of the world around us and the things that promise to give us happiness that in the end are empty and fleeting. But with that relationship with Jesus, we find true and lasting happiness. It brings color to our lives. So that's where I learned that something new, beautiful.
[00:08:48] Speaker A: I didn't know that at all either, so I'm glad to learn it myself. And that is such an important aspect of that movement. You know, Bishop, I think it shows you about the people of our diocese, the men and women, the faithful of the diocese. When we have our pilgrimage to the national shrine in Washington, DC, we have thousands that go. When you have this event in Pennsylvania, thousands that go. It's a great desire for devotion, for pilgrimage, for acts of service and love.
[00:09:16] Speaker B: It really is. A couple of thoughts on that. First of all, you're right. That's part of our experience and especially in this multicultural setting where people bring with them those experiences of retreats, of processions, of the different movements. I had an interesting experience I've spoken about a couple of times during that national pilgrimage passed through here. It made its way from New Haven, making its way to Indianapolis for the big gathering, the National Eucharistic congressional. Along the way, as we got close, in fact, to the Cole Cathedral on Sunday, we stopped by the firehouse and I thought we were just stopping like a station to say a prayer, give a blessing. But at that point, the firefighters came out to greet the Lord, and then they brought the trucks out, and the trucks then led the procession the rest of the way here to the co cathedral. Now, already, when we crossed the Brooklyn bridge, all the fire trucks from the house up there were out. And the many, many police officers, there were so many people who helped us and so many people in public service of all faiths who. Who helped us. And I am very, very grateful for that. I really am. Boy, are we blessed around here by the people who watch over and protect our communities. They do a lot for us. But, you know, during that moment, a lady came up to me, and we looked at the crowd, people there, and she said, the faith is deep. And I looked around and I thought, boy, she's right. Now, when I told the story to the priests, at the gathering of the priests, I said, the faith is deep. I wish it were a little wider. I wish there were more who embraced everything.
But for those, and this has been my experience, those who do, those who have faith, it's a very deep faith. And that's the leaven that's going to make a difference in the world today. And there are so many good and faithful people. We see it in our parishes. We see it in a lot of these movements. We saw it in these events, and that's what we have to do is nourish it. So one of the things is we do need to encourage the movements that are around here, because, you know, that's where things are happening. Parish life will always be part of our catholic experience, but it's not just parish life. This is this whole new reality. I used the book from Chrysostom to apostolic Mission. We have a new way of living out our faith, and that's what's happening here in Brooklyn and in Queens. Many, many different movements, English, Spanish, from different cultures, but many different movements. And some of those movements are breathing a lot of life. And what I know, what I need to do as bishop is to support and guide, because they can't go off the rails. Public things like that can also go off the rails. We need to support and guide and continue to foster communion, a unity in the faith that's going to be so, so important. You know, as I have these parish planning meetings, my last deanery meeting for the pastoral year next week, Father Grimaldi and I have been traveling generally once a week to the different deaneries to talk about, you know, how we're going to be able to serve our parish as well. Priest said, in the hispanic world, there were three things you got to keep in mind, especially with the movements, processions, novenas, and retreats. That was well said, and that's a responsibility I have to take very seriously.
[00:12:29] Speaker A: Sure. And fostering that, finding the places, finding the resources to do it is certainly a great gift and will be a great gift for the future of the diocese to deepen the faith that's already there. And please God, widen it as we.
[00:12:44] Speaker B: Invite more of the people.
[00:12:45] Speaker A: Yeah. Bishop, just to circle back for a moment, reading Cardinal Christophe Pierre remarks to the bishops. He spoke about fostering the faith in your own lives as well.
[00:12:56] Speaker B: Cardinal Pierre and Archbishop Brolio, they customarily addressed the body of bishops at the beginning of the public sessions. They both spoke eloquently. So Cardinal Pierre was talking about the Eucharistic Congress coming up. But, yes, fostering that sense in each of our own lives. Very timely, very challenging, but also very inspiring message.
[00:13:18] Speaker A: Yeah. And I just think, you know, again, as the bishops sanctify themselves and the people, and the priests and bishops help to sanctify the people, and we all work together, that's where the joy, that's where the color, that's where, you know, the growth continues. So it's a great gift. Even though we're coming to the summer months, which is usually a time of quiet and relaxed, it doesn't mean that we're, you know, like the priest would say, there's no vacation from your vocation before summer break, but there's no vacation from our faith either.
[00:13:44] Speaker B: No. In fact, this time of summer is a great opportunity to deepen the faith, to let go of the distractions that. But, I mean, by distractions aren't necessarily bad things, but, you know, in a little bit more of a relaxed setting, not having to be on the treadmill, so to speak, all the time. Part of that is to go deeper in our relationship with the Lord and with each other, too.
[00:14:06] Speaker A: Things are starting to wrap up a little bit. We have graduations in this time of the year. Have you made it? Have you been to many?
[00:14:13] Speaker B: No. It was during, maybe I was at the graduation of the two catholic colleges in Brooklyn and Queens, so I was at St. John's and St. Francis College. Those were nice, joy filled events. It's great to see the families bursting with pride. Yeah, bursting with pride. But I didn't really, I don't have the opportunity to go to the high school or the grammar schools because a couple of things. One, I'm still doing confirmations. We still got a lot of things going, weeks of pretty busy, and we had ordination during that time. But the other fact is there were just so many, and they were pretty much around the same time. So this year I had the chance. It's something I've been dreaming of doing in three different diocese of a graduation mass I proposed for the high schools, and then the education people said we could do it for the grammar schools as well. And so we had, back in the spring, two phenomenal celebrations.
[00:15:05] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:15:06] Speaker B: And it was a great chance to be at both. I just realized. I stand corrected. I was at the graduation for cathedral prep. That's our diocese now. I was at that graduation. But it was great to be able to salute all of our high school seniors and all of our 8th graders and to encourage them and to remind them that we still have a relationship with each other and we move forward together with the Lord.
[00:15:26] Speaker A: A real blessing. And I know that they were so successful in their first year that it's kind of incredible to think just how much more they'll grow. The high school one, we pray will join us here at the Co cathedral. Larger space, more room for more graduates. And the 8th grade graduation mass was. We were at full capacity. It was a great, a great celebration.
[00:15:47] Speaker B: Some good things happening. Yeah. Coming up, too. We had some of those feasts kind of related to the post Easter time Pentecost, Holy Trinity, Corpus Christi. Many parishes had their own processions, sacred Heart, and now we kind of move into the calendar one. So coming up this week, we have the feast of John the Baptist and the birth of John the Baptist. And we also have St. Peter and St. Paul, two major feasts. If those fall on Sundays, we celebrate them in sight of the Sunday mass. So there's a big feast in the church. As a matter of fact, I'll be at St. John the Baptist parish this weekend, anticipating we'll do the Sunday mass, but we'll be anticipating this celebration of John the Baptist. I'll be confirming on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. So I used to believe that things would wind down in June. Actually, they seem to accelerate and they come to a crashing halt on July 1.
[00:16:41] Speaker A: You're still doing confirmations.
[00:16:43] Speaker B: That's new for me. Usually they don't want to see us bishops in June because like all those things we just talked about, people, parishes and our families are very, very busy here. We have a different rhythm of life. So I used to be done with confirmations. The end of maybe definitely before the June meeting of the bishops. But this year I have three confirmations this weekend and I have two sets next week. So we go right to the bitter end, which is a great thing. And the other feast, which is personal to me and to our people on Thursday of this week is the feast of our lady perpetual help. Now, our lady perpetual help doesn't fall on the universal calendar, but I have a personal devotion because that was the parish where I was raised in, our lady perpetual help. It's a place where I discovered my vocation, of course, where I received my first communion confirmation and offered my first mass of thanksgiving. And then much of my family life was there, sadly buried my mother there just this year. So this is a place that's important. But Mary, our Lady perpetual hope, speaks very, very profoundly to me, and also she's patroniz of a number of nations, but particularly the Haitians. So we'll have a mass, we'll gather at the basilica of our Lady Perpetual help celebrating the feast of Ali perpetual help on June 27. That'll be a great celebration.
[00:18:03] Speaker A: Beautiful, beautiful. Well, bishop, I know we've got a lot, we've covered a lot and a lot more to go. We've got a lot coming up still in these upcoming weeks or visits to the scout camp and another celebration and the National Eucharistic Congress the National Eucharistic Congress in July.
[00:18:18] Speaker B: And hopefully we'll practice what we preach. Hopefully we'll take some of this time to go deeper ourselves, maybe to reflect on some summer readings and conversations about faith and let the Lord speak to us.
[00:18:30] Speaker A: Absolutely, bishop, perhaps you could end with a prayer. The Lord be with you and with your spirit.
[00:18:35] Speaker B: May the Lord bless you and keep you.
[00:18:36] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:18:36] Speaker B: May his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
[00:18:39] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:18:39] Speaker B: May he look upon you with kindness and grant you his peace.
[00:18:42] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:18:42] Speaker B: And may the blessing of Almighty God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit descend upon you and your family and remain with you forever and ever.
[00:18:50] Speaker A: Amen. Thank you, Bishop. Thank you all for joining us for another edition of our das and podcast. We hope that you'll join us again next week. God bless.
