Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: Welcome back to another edition of our diocesan podcast, Big City Catholics, with Bishop Robert Brennan, the Diocesan Bishop of Brooklyn and Queens, myself, Father Christopher henyu, from the Co Cathedral of St Joseph. We are really just a few days away as this podcast releases on the Friday just before the fourth Sunday of Advent, the joy of the season continues to grow. We'll begin in prayer and we'll talk about that joyful season as we continue to grow closer to the nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so we'll pray 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.
[00:00:46] Speaker A: Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Amen.
[00:00:51] Speaker B: In the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Amen. So, Bishop, we just finished Gaudete Sunday. That joyful Sunday. We were talking a little bit about it in our last podcast, but the joy continues to build. Right. We are getting closer and closer.
[00:01:04] Speaker A: Sunday, last Sunday, and now we're in what we call the late days of Advent. They began on Tuesday, on the 17th, and everything kind of shifts. So instead of just looking ahead to Jesus is coming, our eyes are fixed on Bethlehem. You know, we hear the story of the Annunciation, the visitation. We hear these stories of John the Baptist being announced and born, Mary's magnificato, all of the events leading up to his birth in Bethlehem. And so it takes a new flavor and it's a great time. It's a very spiritual time, and it can draw us in. I always think of the Christmas creche as drawing our attention in. There's something about seeing the crash, especially in churches where the crush is so big. This kind of draws us in.
[00:01:49] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. And the. The joy that comes with it. I mean, we've had quite a joyful this last week, even since our last record. We talked a little bit about the Feast of Our lady of Guadalupe, but, boy, we really experienced it. The thousands of people that came to the amazing.
[00:02:07] Speaker A: Again, this seems to be a chorus. It's sort of like life is getting back. Biggest ever.
[00:02:11] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:02:12] Speaker A: Last year we started having two Masses breaking it in half. And this year we're at a point where both Masses are not only full, but we had overflow crowds in the undercroft of the Co Cathedral. Amazing. Amazing. You know, I've been saying this these last couple of days. They weren't on familiar faces. You know, there were some people who come out Just for the Guadalupe procession. But these are people who are out and about and active in their parishes, parts of the different communities, the Spanish speaking communities. They do a lot of the apostolic work. This was a real movement in Brooklyn and Queens.
[00:02:45] Speaker B: Definitely. You're absolutely right. And the leaders that come out that all bring forth their young folks with them from the parishes as well. I think, you know, one of the things you noted at the Mass was just the sheer quantity of young folk. Bishop Cisnero spoke to them as well in his homily and. And you acknowledge their presence. That's a joyful experience, too. I mean, it's great just to see the church full, but when you see a church full and like 70% are under the age of 25, you know, like, that's really impressive. And probably more than 70% under the age of 25, to be honest, that's probably a low number.
That's really joyful. That's really.
[00:03:24] Speaker A: It is. As I always say, each year I'm impressed by the sign they there for Mass and then they come together as parish groups and carry the torch and bring the torch back to their parishes. They walking or running is the actual word, but realistically walking, but they walk with that torch. And that's a great witness to all the neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens as people are passing through the different neighborhoods, making their way back to their parishes where they start all over again.
[00:03:51] Speaker B: Yeah. My mother called, told me that she was driving through Woodside on the feast of Our lady of Guadalupe. She saw these two young teenagers with the green hoodies that they were wearing. And she had seen them on the Mass on that tv. And she said, I rolled down the window and I yelled out, happy Feast Day. And they said, oh, they were. They were excited. So like, even that visible sign, that green hoodie, that colored hoodie that, that they use, was a true sign. Now, big crowds weren't just at Our lady of Guadalupe. We had an incredible crowd of folks. A joyful celebration at our Christmas luncheon recently at Russo's on the Bay.
[00:04:28] Speaker A: Absolutely. And there was great enthusiasm as we draw closer to this great feast. There's a sense of unity, there's a sense of our being together, our celebrating these sacred mysteries being together. And of course, that comes to its peak when we gather for Sunday Mass and then for the feast day itself. But we have that desire, we have that instinct to draw closer to each other as we celebrate the coming of God.
[00:04:55] Speaker B: It is true. And again, highlighting, as you mentioned, these familiar faces. Right. You don't realize Just like how many people we know in our lives through our priesthood, through our ministry. We were in a room with 1100 people.
[00:05:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:10] Speaker B: And pretty impressive to say, like, I know a lot of these people.
[00:05:15] Speaker A: Well, you know, the reason is because all of these people work really hard contributing to the life of the church in Brooklyn and Queens. These are people who really pour themselves out in humble love and service, generosity. These are people who live out the faith, who give witness to the faith, but also help to keep things going in a very spiritual and fruitful kind of way. And then on the weekend, on Gabrite Sunday, that was in two parishes. On Saturday evening at Our lady of Peace in Guanis, and then On Sunday in St. Catherine of Genoa, I guess that's East Flatbush. Two parishes with two very different kinds of celebrations. One, Our Lady Peace, was celebrating 125 years. And for most of those years, that parish was founded by the Vincent. But most of those years, that parish has been served by the Franciscans, Franciscan priors. And we're really very fortunate to have them here. And you could sense that the love that people had for the friars. A lot of them came back, a lot of them. So their provincial was there, their vice provincial was there, and he had been a former pastor. But people really were glad to see the Franciscans, to reconnect with them. And again, there's a great sense of lots of changes since 1899, this constant evolution of peoples, but that being rooted in the one thing that is constant, that is Jesus Christ. And that celebration really reflected that reality. And then at St. Catherine of Genoa, we're returning to the church. You may remember I spoke about this around the beginning of the schools. Early in September, there was a fire on a Friday night, Saturday morning, thank God. Through the quick thinking of the priest who was there, the summer priest who was there, and the work of the New York City Fire Department, that fire was contained pretty quickly, and the damage was minimal, but it was enough that there was several months of work needed to be done. So they were back in the church after all these months again. It was a great sense of joy at being back, but it really reflected the day that we were celebrating that Gaudete Sunday. The song that day was Cry out with joy and gladness, for among you is the great and holy One of Israel. And, you know, that's what we were doing. We were celebrating the presence of God among us in the church. We were celebrating the presence of God among us in the community there. And really remembering, as St. Paul said, rejoice in the Lord always. You know, God's not with us only in the good times, but we rejoice in the Lord because he's with us in the tough times. And so I remembered how that Sunday after the fire, they sang a communion hymn, I will sing of the goodness of God. And they sang it again on Sunday. And. And there's that constant that God is always good, God is always present. Even in the tough time, we cry out. So these are, you know, realistic thoughts. We're not living a party all the time, but in everyday life, in the ups and downs, in the joys and the sadness, and in the changes again, the one constant God dwells among us. Emmanuel. That's what we celebrate now, this weekend and Christmas coming up next week. God is with us.
[00:08:26] Speaker B: It's certainly an exciting, exciting time. And as you said, it's not always rainbows and butterflies, but yet the joy in the Lord should remain constant. That recognition that. That God is with us throughout. And those visible signs are important. Like you said, the visible sign of coming back to the church after that restoration even. I'm just thinking, as you're talking about that church, I was thinking about the photos and the videos from Notre Dame in France rebuilding after. What great joy came with that? Now, there was another visible sign that you were present at recently. Somebody called it the backyard of Brooklyn. I think it was Monsignor Ogle who was saying in his opening remarks, he says, here we are in this backyard of Brooklyn at Grand Army Plaza, as we dedicated, as you bless, the Nativity scene and the tree that's. I passed it again just yesterday. At night. It's so stunning at night. It seems really, really well done this year. But that was an exciting experience as well. And a visible sign.
[00:09:24] Speaker A: And again, we're so grateful, yes, to Desales Media for sponsoring it and also to the New York City Police Department. They were present among us that day and the kind of making it possible for us to be able to do it throughout these sacred days. We're very, very fortunate here in our city. But it was a great evening. Again, a visible sign of the presence of Christ among us walking in our city. So our late days of Advent now bring us into this fourth Sunday of Advent. And again this Sunday, we focus in on the days of preparation. So we'll be recounting once again the visitation of Mary to Elizabeth. You know, Mary hears that good news of the angel, maybe frightening news of the angel. And we're told by St. Luke, she runs in haste to Elizabeth, who is Expecting her own child. And Mary runs in haste, maybe to be of assistance. But certainly Mary runs in haste to bring Jesus to Elizabeth. And in these days, maybe that can describe us, that we're running in haste, not just running in circles, not just running to malls, but running in haste to bring the good news of Jesus to one another.
[00:10:32] Speaker B: Amen. Yeah, that's for sure. Just the depths of that encounter. Right. John the Baptist again, being the first to experience the joy that comes from being present with Jesus in the same room, in the same space as Jesus leaping for joy in Elizabeth's womb. And the joy that we should be bringing then forth. Right. That's that joy that is like contagious. It should be a contagious joy.
[00:10:55] Speaker A: And I love that opening. She runs in haste. She doesn't say, I'll get around to it. She makes a deliberate choice that she says, I've got to be there. I have something to share. And again, that needs to motivate us to run in haste to meet Christ, to run in haste to bring Christ to one another.
[00:11:15] Speaker B: Yeah, the times of waiting for other people to do it or, you know, that message needs to be given out. It needs to be shared. And it's not a secret for us only, you know, to keep to ourselves. Right. That's the evangelization that needs to happen. You know, we speak about evangelization and you know, I was reading from an exhortation of St. Paul Paul VI, Gaudete and Domino. I was reading it in preparation for Gaudete Sunday, and I realized it was written in the jubilee year of 1975, which is only two ordinary jubilees before us. These jubilee years happen once every 25 years. We're approaching very quickly the next Jubilee of 2025. And the Diocese has some plans, right, to kind of kick off that year.
[00:11:58] Speaker A: Francis will kick off the jubilee celebration in Rome on Christmas Eve. And so we'll join with him spiritually. And I'm sure the his events will be covered on Net tv. So we'll jo with the Holy Father in the inauguration of the jubilee year, the Holy Year. And the Holy Father then asked us to begin our celebrations on the following Sunday on the 29th, the Feast of the Holy Family. So he asked us to begin in cathedrals and co cathedrals. So that's what we're doing. And we'll begin at St James Cathedral with the 11 o'clock Mass and then process from St James to St Joseph Co Cathedral, where we'll be together for the 130 Mass in Spanish 11 will be in English. The 130 is the regular Spanish Mass, so it gets us to the two places. There's a little bit of a procession and it brings two of our language groups together. Brings a lot of our people together.
[00:12:57] Speaker B: Yeah, it brings language groups together, it brings our cathedral and co Cathedral together. And it's open to anyone in the diocese that wishes. It's open to anyone who wishes to join and kick off that opening of the Jubilee year.
[00:13:08] Speaker A: Yes. So we'd love to have people join us in the procession. But even if you are unable, both Masses will be televised, as they usually are on net TV. 11am from St. James and 1:30 from St. Joseph.
[00:13:23] Speaker B: Speaking of televised liturgies, we are prepping, of course, as we're talking about prepping for Christmas, which for this year, you're going to celebrate the midnight mass at St. James Cathedral that also will be televised on NetTV. And then our Christmas schedule of Masses will be as well televised on net. This is Christmas Day, 9:00am, 3:00, 11:00am in English, which you, Bishop, will celebrate at the co Cathedral of St. Joseph, and 1:30 Mass in Spanish, again broadcast from the co Cathedral of St. Joseph. So we're looking forward.
[00:13:58] Speaker A: And of course, I love the fact that so many people join in for those televised Masses. When I'm offering televised Mass, whether I do it vocally or not, I'm always feeling a sense of solidarity with those who are sick and who are homebound. And so when I offer those Mass, I'm praying for those people, especially who are joining us by way of television, who are sick and homebound. I know a lot of people will go to their own parishes and then maybe tune in especially for midnight, because there are people who are very comfortable being home at midnight. And I get that and join in, join the others maybe to hear the carols, to get that sense of the cathedral celebration. But I want to encourage everyone check the schedules, because schedules often change at Christmas. Check your local parish. The trend has been, we noticed it in Holy Week, we noticed it during Lent and Easter, and we're noticing it now. We're back. People are definitely back in great number. And I encourage you, make sure you're getting to miss Christmas Day in your parish, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day in your parish. We long to be together. That's what's really been the theme that I've been noticing this particular season of Advent, this longing to be together. And so, you know, we're thrilled when you watch us on the television. And to the homebound again, Please know my prayers. And hopefully you're connecting with your parish so that you can receive Holy Communion at certain times. Certainly it may be hard to do that on Christmas Day, but. But parishes have visitors who bring Holy Communion to folks, so we want to stay connected. Being in solidarity, being connected, that's something that's going to have to really sink in. These days. The theme for the pilgrimage is we are pilgrims of hope, Pilgrims of hope. We're walking together with one another to encounter Jesus Christ. So we long to be together. We long to be together for Christmas. We long to be together for the Jubilee. We long to be together every Sunday. So even if you like to check in on the cathedral celebrations, I want to encourage you. Your own parishes are longing to be together.
[00:16:13] Speaker B: Amen. That's for sure. That's for sure. Great message, Bishop. And for those who tune in each and every week, the next two weeks podcast will be the recording of your Christmas homily and of the opening of the Jubilee homily so that our faithful listeners be able to not miss that Christmas homily and the beginning of the Jubilee homily. So perhaps since this might be the last time that we're together in this podcast in the year 2024, we could take this opportunity to wish everyone a very blessed Christmas and a very happy new Year.
[00:16:47] Speaker A: Absolutely know that we're united in prayer and we say it with great love. God bless you this Christmas and all throughout the coming New Year.
[00:16:56] Speaker B: Amen. Bishop, maybe you could end with a blessing for us all.
[00:17:00] Speaker A: Loving Mother of the Redeemer, Gate of Heaven, Star of the sea, assist your people who have fallen, yet strive to rise again to the wonderment of nature. You bore your Creator, yet remained a virgin after, as before you who received Gabriel's joyful greeting, have pity on us poor sinners. May Almighty God bless you this Christmas and throughout the year. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[00:17:26] Speaker B: Amen. Thank you for joining another edition of our diocesan podcast, Big City Catholics. Again, a blessed Christmas and New Year to you all. And we hope that you'll join us again in the upcoming year. God.
