Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
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 Henu, got a lot in store today. There just seems to be a busy time of the year. And to catch up with Bishop Brennan about all the things that are happening around our diocese, that which has happened and that which is about to come forward in our calendar. But we begin. We stop and pause to begin our podcast in prayer. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with the. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
[00:00:45] Speaker B: Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
[00:00:49] Speaker A: In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen. Boy. Bishop, this is a wild time of the year. It seems like everything is just scheduled for this period of time.
[00:00:58] Speaker B: Exactly. But it's good. These are all good things. Both the general calendar brings events, but also the life of our diocese. So it's a great thing. You know, last week I made a parish visit to St. Paul the Apostle in Corona. I had been there before, but it was really the first time for a regular Sunday Mass. And that was just an incredible experience. People were so. So welcoming. So I enjoy those visits.
[00:01:25] Speaker A: That's very nice. We've had some great events in celebrating historical events in our diocese. We were present, both of us, at the 125th anniversary of the Cathedral Club dinner. I really was impressed by the amount of people, the turnout that was there, and of course, the honorees and all of the great witness that they speak both in their life and in their talks. But really, Father Bruno, think at your direction. Bishop was asked to sort of give a historical approach to the Cathedral Club. It will be, I think, published in our diocesan newspaper, his talk as the keynote address. But that was really very, very impressive.
[00:02:03] Speaker B: It was. He did a wonderful job. It mixed history with interesting stories with a little bit of humor and a sense of the mission of the Cathedral Club. You know, I had hoped that it would be something a little bit special because this was the 125th annual dinner. This was an anniversary for us again, another one of those jubilees within a jubilee. And I think it's important to mark that last year, we marked the beginning of Catholic Charities 125 years ago. So you can start to see a picture of an emerging church here on the shores of Brooklyn around the turn of the century, from the 19th century into the 20th century. And you Know, a couple of things had happened. The travel across from Manhattan became a little bit easier with the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. More people now were starting to settle in what we now call downtown Brooklyn. And that was the city of Brooklyn. And an immigrant church was emerging, largely Irish, German, Italians. There were different communities that were starting. French, they were all starting to come together. The Irish immigrants petitioned for the building of the Cathedral of St. James some 75 years before that. But now people started to take seriously their call to universal holiness. One of the figures around in Brooklyn at the time, who I'm always fascinated by was Cardinal Mundelein. And Cardinal Mundelein eventually became the Cardinal Archbishop of Chicago, but he was an auxiliary bishop in Brooklyn. He was connected with seminary formation, especially Cathedral Prep, Cathedral College. And he was really at the heart of some of these movements, like Catholic Charities and the Cathedral Club. He was the first spiritual director.
And I say he was ahead of his time, he and the people he worked with, because what the Second Vatican Council did, the call to universal holiness, that not just priests and religious are called to be holy, but people of every walk of life, like we're called to take the gospel into the workplace, into the marketplace, and really live it. And we need a little bit of mutual support to be able to do that. Hence, the Cathedral Club was born. People taking seriously their Catholic faith and trying to live it out in their world. And the other thing was, it was somewhat connected to the political world. And you look at some of the speakers over the course of time, political leaders, because it was a chance for the Catholics to be able to hear from and call upon the community leaders in those areas.
[00:04:44] Speaker A: I sort of look at it a little with nostalgic eyes, you know, and to think that there was a time when there was a sort of a much more of a healthier, bipartisan relationship that was present in our political world. And I think even Bishop DiMarzio mentioned that in his closing prayer. That allow us to bring both members of the political sides together to share in this regard our Catholic unity. That's right. Unites us in our faith and.
[00:05:12] Speaker B: Right. We're Catholics before we're anything else, before we're Democrats or Republicans. Too often in the world, it's switched around, but we are Catholics above all.
[00:05:20] Speaker A: That's right. And that same immigrant church that was creating those movements still exists. Right. I mean, we're the Diocese of immigrants. And that church, the immigrants that built our churches, perhaps they're from different countries, but now we call on the new generation, those who have come Those recently arrived, those who are filling our churches to help support those churches.
[00:05:43] Speaker B: And the other thing that Father Bruno brought up, which was kind of new to me because of the very nature of these communities, they were young, in a sense. The Cathedral Club was founded as a young adult movement. Again, boy, talk about being way ahead of its time. So these immigrant communities, these were young adults who were trying to find their ways. And so a lot of the early activities were sports oriented and event focused, really to help build up Catholic social life as well in a very healthy way in the community.
[00:06:17] Speaker A: That's impressive. It was these immigrant communities coming together, really taking positions of leadership in the church, helping to build the churches, albeit probably from different countries of origin than the immigrant population that we have currently of recently arrived immigrants. But yet the reality is we aren't a church of immigrants. The diocese of immigrants we call ourselves. And so the one set of may have helped to build the church. Those now who fill the churches are called to sustain it, I think. Bishop, you also recently attended some events in support of our annual Catholic appeal.
[00:06:52] Speaker B: Yes. So we're kicking off the next appeal. We celebrated the good work that was done last year. Our annual Catholic appeal did rather well. We hit our goals and collected upon them. And people were generous, as they always are. People are good. And we had two events celebrating the Court of Honor. And we have a thank you plan for the volunteers and all the people who work on it. I was struck by the people who were at these events, these thank you dinners. So we would thank, thanking them for larger contributions. But you know what? The gathering wasn't comprised of people with extraordinary amounts of money. The rich and the famous, you might say. We're really glad for the generosity of all people. And some people are very, very, very, very generous, especially to our futures and the foundation. But a lot of these are people who work hard to make ends meet. And yet they see the support of the appeal as something of a priority. And they do it because they believe in the mission of the appeal, the lives that are touched in formation, in education, in charity. And so these thank you dinners, they're not fancy in themselves, but really it's an opportunity, I guess you might say, to report back, to share with them the good works that they're helping to support. I was glad to do it. And you know what? Having completed three years, in my fourth year, these events are starting to become very familiar. It's like getting together with old friends.
[00:08:20] Speaker A: Sure, it's a beautiful thing. And, you know, really, we know the good work that the annual Catholic appeal does for our diocese, for our church, for our youth ministry, for our senior priests. It's certainly a great gift for us as a diocese to be blessed with the generosity. And one thing also that always strikes me is while you may have certainly those who are able to give larger donations, really the participation numbers are what matters as well.
[00:08:48] Speaker B: We talked about that. We talked about the widow's mite. Thank God for the widow's might again. I mean, if this is one group of people struggling to get by, then there are other people who really are, I would say poor, but yet see it as their responsibility to be part of the effort. And so even that small gift is just a reflection of our solidarity. It's not that, you know, people are more important or less important according to what they give, but it's that we're all engaged in the work together. And when we engage in the work together, we're much stronger. We do things that we ordinarily couldn't do. You know, the appeal in any diocese works this way. Parishes can do a lot of very good work, but no parish can form priests. We need a much larger effort to do that. So all of our parishes band together and accomplish that great work. So we're stronger when we're together. We're stronger when we're exercising solidarity. That's such an important concept.
[00:09:49] Speaker A: Bishop, you mentioned the formation of priests, and this week you also had the opportunity to join in on a project, Andrew, and it's sort of a week filled with seminary visits for you. You're going to be visiting some of the seminarians of the diocese that are studying in Providence and in Boston.
[00:10:03] Speaker B: Right. We have our college students in Providence and Seton Hall. I saw the Seton hall fellows a couple of weeks ago, Providence fellows there at the House of Formation and Seminary in Providence. And then the older men, men who heard that call to priesthood later in life or really heard that call just continuing to echo within them. They're formed up at Pope St John XXIII in western Massachusetts, and one of our priests, Father Joe Swaster, is on the faculty there, and they'll have a chance to visit them. And you're there this week. You're doing one of their workshops courses on pastoral ministry, right?
[00:10:42] Speaker A: That's right. On parish governance, parish management. So you and I will cross paths and actually podcast as well, that they run called Never Too Late. And it's a podcast sort of to inspire other men to think about the priesthood who may think, you know, they've finished a particular career. And the idea is it's never too late, so we'll have a nice crossover.
[00:11:02] Speaker B: A lot of the. A lot of the fellows, every once in a while there's somebody who will say, you know, they had this aha moment. But a lot of the fellows will say there's always. That call's always been there. And even though I did other thing, I kept feeling called back to that. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to the visit and to doing that podcast. But, yes, Saturday night last week, we had Project Andrew. I had the chance to celebrate Mass at the parish of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And after Mass, we had dinner. Some of the pastors invited young men, often coming from their youth group, to join for that dinner. And we had this conversation, just very simple. It's a very simple conversation about what it means to be called as a priest. In the course of this conversation, a couple of the priests shared how they heard the call in their lives. And we had a chance to talk a little bit about what do we do on a regular day. So Project Andrew is meant to be sort of an introductory conversation just to put that out there as an option. And I appreciate the young men who generously came just to be part of the conversation and the work of the pastors to get them there. We usually do them in deanery areas throughout the year, and all of the bishops participate in one or another. So this was really the first one I did this year around. So it was. It was a good experience and good conversations. We had one eye out on the weather that night because that was Saturday night. You remember, the snow came overnight, but it was really worth the effort. And then subsequently, as time goes on, we'll have more serious things for people who are really giving in consideration. We have different weekends to explore a little bit more. I'll be giving a retreat in March for the seminary, and also we have an introductory day to talk about religious Life in March, March 21. It's part of our Lenten pilgrimage. And that day, the pilgrimage will be at Immaculate Conception center in Douglaston. We'll have witness talks from some younger sisters who experience their call to religious life right here in Brooklyn and Queens. And they'll share with us their story. But then a number of congregations that are serving here in Brooklyn and Queens have been invited to have a presence to be there. And so after the holy hour, there'll be some pizza and a chance to talk to representatives from the different religious communities. Again, these are men's and women's religious communities, and it's just to get Conversations started to dispel a few myths. A lot of people think, oh yeah, there aren't any more religious vocations. It's just not true. It's not true. And I have great regard for some of the young women and men who are entering into religious life. So this is a celebration of all of that.
[00:13:45] Speaker A: Now, Bishop, when this podcast releases on Friday, February 14, Valentine's Day, and they love and, you know, it's an opportunity and I think in relation to this topic of the conversation, to talk a little bit about that vocation to married life as well.
[00:14:02] Speaker B: You know, that's an important vocation in the church. That's never not been. It's kind of one of those foundational ones. Right.
We rely on holy marriages. We rely on families and parents who help children discover their vocation too, in life. You know, years ago when we would talk about praying for vocations to marriage, I would sometimes think, I have to confess, I sometimes think that, well, you know, that's sort of a cop out of way of not giving full attention to religious vocations. Well, you know what, I look around at the world today and we have a real need provocations to holy matrimony. And we have a real need for young people who are willing to make that commitment. It's a real and an important commitment, and it's one that the statistics are showing people are getting a little bit shy about making. And so we really are looking to pray, not only just weddings. We're looking for men and women to enter into Catholics into sacramental marriage, to live holy, faithful life giving unions. What a powerful sign of the love of God. And so we pray. We pray for married couples this weekend. We pray for those who celebrate significant anniversaries in this year ahead. We pray for those who are in tough marriages and we never want to see anybody in an abusive marriage. That should never be the case. But what we want to do is encourage young people and support them in this incredibly important vocation.
[00:15:40] Speaker A: People often may say to priests, well, I don't know how you do it, Father. It's very. It seems like a very difficult vocation. Well, you know, we think the same, I think about married life, and there are difficult moments, certainly, but the commitment is there, rooted in faith, rooted in the grace of God. The word commitment is one that seems like can be almost a dirty word in society these days to fully commit yourself to one particular thing or one particular vocation, or own a particular person in life. Yet the church again stands as that countercultural approach Certainly as a. With recognizing the grace of the sacrament in all of this.
[00:16:18] Speaker B: And if you don't mind that I go full circle on this, I go back to that Cathedral Club celebration and the anniversary of its founding. Again, we need to find ways as a Catholic community to support one another in the living of our vocations, including the vocation to holy matrimony. So in a sense, again, the Cathedral Club had as its goal away of people supporting each other in the day to day living of faith. And so we strive in our parishes, in many of our different movements. There are many, many movements that are at work in our diocese and I encourage them. And we find different ways to support one another because, you know, nothing's easy in this world. But as Pope Francis has called upon us during this jubilee year, we're on pilgrimage together, pilgrims of hope. We show one another the hope, the hope that will not disappoint.
So, and you know, Father Henry, you mentioned Valentine's Day and World Marriage Day. Also this week we had the observance of World Day of the Sick. Each year on the feast of Our lady of Lourdes, February 11th, we pray for those who are sick and for those who care for them. I pray for those who are sick and those who care for them. Every single day we pray for those who are sick and for those who care for them. And the feast of Our lady of Lourdes because of Mary's healing visit. You know, Mary's call to people to find healing in her maternal love, in her bringing us to Jesus Christ. And, you know, we all know the stories of the baths of Lourdes and the healings that have taken place there. It's a great day to recommit ourselves to praying for and caring for those who are sick.
[00:18:00] Speaker A: You know, I think that relates beautifully to the sacraments both of marriage and holy orders, because marriage, in that commitment, in those vows, I've promised to love you and honor you in good times and bad, in sickness and health. Right. That's that care that they have between husband and wife as a married couple. And yet also the holy orders, the priests and the vocations who are able to provide then the sacrament of the sick, the sacrament of the anointing of the sick. So they really do come together beautifully merged, the vocations of marriage and holy orders.
[00:18:31] Speaker B: That's true. And then I'll just give a shout out to all those in the healthcare profession, another vocation, people who really roll up their sleeves. Nurses, practitioners, doctors, assistants, people who work in hospitals and in nursing homes and in healthcare facilities and people who are doing at home visits along with family members. We salute all of those who are engaged in healthcare ministry. Again, I'm recording before the day itself, but I'll be celebrating this year World Day for the Sick at Ozenham hall, where the Carmelite sisters founded this institution for the care of the elderly. We have the Little Sisters of the Poor in Queens Village. So two Catholic congregations and other Catholic related facilities here in our diocese and then a whole Catholic health system out on Long Island. So many works are being done in the care for the sick. You know, talking about religious communities, many of our religious communities were founded for that very purpose, the care of the sick.
[00:19:29] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, it's true, Bishop. There's much more to talk about. We're also grateful to have that upcoming episode with the podcast Never Too Late. We're happy to invite Father Patrick Griffin of Vincentian Priests to talk about the Vincentian mission here in our diocese. And finally, really, we're around the corner soon enough from the beginning of Lent, March 5th.
[00:19:49] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:19:50] Speaker A: So, Bishop, with all that, perhaps you could offer us your blessing to strengthen us in this upcoming month. And we'll join again next week. The Lord be with you and with your spirit.
[00:20:01] Speaker B: May the Lord bless you and keep you. May his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May he look upon you with kindness and grant you his peace. And may the blessing of Almighty God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit descend upon you and your families and remain with you forever and ever. Amen.
[00:20:14] Speaker A: Amen. Thank you, Bishop. Thanks to all who join us each and every week on our diocesan podcast, Big City Catholics. We hope that you'll join us again next week as we continue our discussions.
