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 myself, Father Christopher Henyu. We're really excited to have sort of a crossover episode today where we are sitting in Weston, Massachusetts, at Pope St. John, the 23rd national seminary with Monsignor Bill Fay, who hosts the podcast Never Too Late. And we're also grateful to have Deacon Gerardo with us as well, a deacon candidate for the priesthood studying here at Weston and Pope St. John XXIII Seminary, who will be ordained for the Diocese of Brooklyn this June. So great to be with you both.
[00:00:48] Speaker C: Thank you very much. Pleasure to be here.
[00:00:50] Speaker D: It's my pleasure, Father.
[00:00:51] Speaker A: So, Father Chris, it's always encouraging to go to Pope St. John XXIII Seminary. When I was in Ohio, we had been studying here, and that's when I really began my association with the seminary. And we've traditionally sent men from Brooklyn to the seminary. We have two fellows right now, Deacon Gerardo, who's with us today, and Jerry Foley, who's on pastoral year in Brooklyn right now. It's a seminary for men who hear that call to vocation a little bit later on in life or perhaps hear it again. But it's a wonderful place of formation and people who really take seriously this call to follow Jesus Christ. I'm thrilled that we're talking to Monsignor Fay. Monsignor Fay and I go back many, many years. I remember meeting him through a mutual friend of ours, Bishop Murphy. When Bishop Murphy was kind of new, we were looking at some things, I think, with computerization and things like that. And we met with Monsignor Fay. He was just finishing up as general secretary associate for the conference of bishops, U.S. conference of Bishop Bishops. And he did that during a very important time. He carried us through some tough times, but did so well. So it was nice to reacquaint with Monsignor Fay here at John xxiii. I'm glad that we can be all together today.
[00:02:02] Speaker B: I'm absolutely a fan, Monsignor, of your podcast, Never Too Late. I think the stories of the men that, you know, study here are really inspiring stories, and it must be a great gift for you to be able to share those stories.
[00:02:15] Speaker C: Oh, it is. This is my 21st year in seminary work. I was 14 years with 20 somethings of St. John Seminary in Brighton and now with the older men here at Pope St. John. And they're two different. The formation program is exactly the same. We do what the church asks of us to get men to priesthood, but it's done in some very different ways. These older guys learn differently and they relate with each other differently. Whereas the younger guys are still getting formed into adulthood in many ways, the older guys are there, and so they make an immediate peer group with each other and they relate. Guys over 30 just relate differently to each other. And to hear their stories, some of them have come out of marriages that have been very difficult. Maybe the death of a spouse that has been long standing, maybe it was a divorce that took place. But each of them comes to it with a very, very unique perspective. That's most interesting to listen to. Yeah.
[00:03:09] Speaker B: Today we're joined by one of our own in the Diocese of Brooklyn. And you've had a chance to be interviewed on Never Too Late. You're back by popular demand. I guess you're a repeat guest. But, Deacon Gerardo, for folks that listen in on big city Catholics, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what brought you to the seminary?
[00:03:28] Speaker D: Yes, I would say that I have been in formation for almost 10 years. So I studied philosophy in St. John's University in Queens, New York. But before I entered the seminary, I was in the house of discernment. I was discerning my vocation. So I learned how to do the liturgy, the hours. You know, we have a lot of testimonies from different priests who came to celebrate Holy Hour. So we gathered together in that beautiful place. I will say that I learned how to live in community, you know, to share meals together. You know, I used to go to work and then come back and sleep over there. But before I enter the House of discernment, I used to work in restaurant. Many, many years I work in restaurant. And honestly, I never thought I would be here like people preparing to be a priest. You know, I never thought that the Lord was calling me to be a priest. But I always give thanks to my pastor at that time, Fr. Michael Perry, from my home parish, Our Lady Refuge in Brooklyn. So he is the one who encouraged me to discern my vocation to the priesthood. And I believe that he saw something that I never saw at that time in myself. Why? Because I used to serve in a lot of different ways in my home parish. I used to be a lector. I used to be an usher, you know, so many different ways, working with the youth, you know. And he told me one time, he said, gerard, I want to talk to you. I said, yes, Father. He said, have you ever considered, like, entering the seminary to discern your vocation? So at that moment, I left.
I left. And why did I leave because I said, I was thinking myself that that's not for me. First of all, I said, I did not speak English. Second thing, I'm all, I haven't been to school. I said, I was saying to myself, I have been to school for maybe 15, 20 years. So this is going to be very difficult for me, you know, and that's for intellectual people. And I do not consider myself that intellectual, you know. So for that reason, I was denying for three consecutive years when this pastor called me to his office, you know, to talk to me about vocations. But one day, and this is, I will say, this is powerful, you know, that not only my pastor was telling me, was inviting me to enter the seminary, but one day when I was praying with the Scriptures, I asked the Lord, and I said, lord, what do you want for me in my life? What do you want me to do?
So in prayer, I opened the sacred Scriptures. And I opened the sacred Scriptures.
The first Bible verse that I saw it is, you are a priest forever. And at that moment, honestly, I closed the Bible. And I said, no, no, no, no. I said, this must be wrong. You know, I don't want to be a priest. You know, I don't want to be a priest. But in a way, I said, well, God doesn't play with us. You know, God is serious with us when we ask something from him. You know, God was serious with me, but I said, yeah, Lord, give me a sign. Give me this. But now he's giving me the answer right there. So that's the moment that I said, I think the Lord is calling me to be a priest.
[00:06:54] Speaker A: Excellent, Beautiful.
[00:06:55] Speaker D: And that's.
[00:06:56] Speaker A: And now you've gone through this whole experience. Talk to me about Pope St. John XXIII Seminary, because you did your work at St. John's University. Were you living in Douglaston at the time?
[00:07:05] Speaker D: Yes, I was.
[00:07:06] Speaker A: And then you came here. And it is a different environment.
[00:07:09] Speaker D: It is a different environment because it's an older vocation. You see different people who have already a career in the past. So it's a little bit different. But something that I really love from this place is that we live in fraternity. We share many good things over here. You know, we live in community. We learn how to be not just a priest, but to be a pastor. How to bring that fire from the Holy Spirit that is in you. How can you share the fire of the Holy Spirit to other people who don't know Christ? And that's powerful. That's what I have learned. How to bring everything that we learn from our classes. How can we apply to people's lives? And that's powerful because when we go to our assignments, for example, for me as deacon, sometimes professors, they ask, you have to do a presentation from this topic in your assignment. That's very fruitful. And that's powerful for me because when I go to my parents assignment, they say, oh, Deacon, thank you. We didn't know anything about this, you know, and that's powerful because I think that we really live over here in community. We take care of each other, you know, we don't try to compete. Oh, who is the best? Who had the best grade? You know, that's not part of a team. I don't see that over here. I see more that we are trying to help each other. The faculty is not here to all to make like our life difficult. No, they help you to be a priest. They see that really you have the call, and if not, they will help you not to continue your formation.
[00:08:46] Speaker A: My experience here is there's a sense among the priests that they're really parish priests. I feel like I'm in an old Boston rectory and the priests on the faculty have that sense, sense that association.
It's just among being parish priests. I think that's a real gift to all of you to be able to model yourselves on the parish priest as.
[00:09:08] Speaker C: They'Re living out their vocations. And though we've had specialties along the way, all of us, with the exception, I think of just two, have been pastors and have had the experience of working with people, knowing what the challenges of administration are going to be. In fact, Father Chris is helping you guys appreciate what some of those dimensions are during the seminar this week. So that's good. That's a big focus for us. We're not training these guys to be further scholars or anything like that. They're heading to parishes for the most part.
[00:09:38] Speaker A: Right. And they get that good model and good modeling. Speaking of heading to parishes, we in Brooklyn and Queens use the pastoral years. So you studied here for two years and then you spent a year in the parish. You were at St. Sebastian's yes, I.
[00:09:51] Speaker D: Was at St. Sebastian farther west. Right.
[00:09:54] Speaker A: And that St. Sebastian's in Woodside is a very busy place. All right. It's a lot of activity. Tell me about that experience.
[00:10:02] Speaker D: Wow. That was. I think that was very, very powerful experience because I was able to give reflections once a week. I learned how to engage more deeply with different cultures, like Americans, a lot of Filipinos, you know, Hispanic people. So it's a big, big variety of people where you can talk to them, you know. And I think that was powerful experience because I also went to visit the sick, you know, once a week on Tuesday. So I spend a lot of time talking to the sick, you know, and listening to them. You know, I think that's practically that living in a rectory, I have the vision of what does that mean to be a priest? Yes, because people are going to come and, yes, sometimes they're going to complain. And how do you handle certain cases? You know, many times when I share some problems, for example, from people, and the pastor, Father Patrick west, said, my son, my son, you haven't seen anything.
[00:11:02] Speaker A: I can hear him say it. You can hear his voice.
[00:11:04] Speaker D: You haven't seen anything.
Don't worry much, okay? Just continue doing what you are doing, you know. So he's a great, great pastor who showed me a lot of things, how to be a good shepherd, you know, when to talk and when to be quiet. So that was, I think, wonderful, wonderful assignment. I used to visit school, you know, and spend time with the youth. I mean, that was wonderful. I think it's very few of, I will say, parishes where I have been that we eat together.
[00:11:38] Speaker A: And now when you finish, then you come back here. Last year, and then the first part of this year, do you find yourself studying a little bit differently? Do you find yourself listening for things that maybe. Do you have different questions?
[00:11:51] Speaker D: Yes, yes, I will say. And honestly, when. Well, at the beginning, when I came back from my pastoral year, I felt kind of uncomfortable. Come back to again and study and read and do paper, write papers and things. Like, at the beginning was kind of difficult as classes, you know, began again. And so I started to realize that, yes, like, everything is what I have learned over there, too.
[00:12:19] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:12:20] Speaker D: How to be a good shepherd.
[00:12:21] Speaker A: How to be a good shepherd, how to integrate it. And I remember my own pastoral year. In some ways, I learned what I still needed to learn.
[00:12:27] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:12:29] Speaker A: You know, and the questions were very concrete. After that, we would talk about something. I'd have this image in my head of what we were doing, you know. And like you, I was active in my parish as a teen, as a young adult.
[00:12:40] Speaker D: And so I said I thought I.
[00:12:41] Speaker A: Had plenty of experience, but, boy, being in that different experience, experience. And you come back and you're looking at it. How do I approach this as a priest? Future priest?
[00:12:50] Speaker D: Yeah. You know, many times when you are, like, in your pastoral year, you know, a lot of people, they treat you really as a pastor, as a priest, even Though you are not a priest, they come to you. And I. I used to tell people, you know, that the pastor is there and the other priest. Yeah, but we want to talk to you.
[00:13:09] Speaker A: You're here now.
[00:13:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:13:10] Speaker D: When I talk to you. Okay. Okay. It's fine. You know, so. And you gotta learn how to listen to people's problems.
[00:13:18] Speaker A: You know, you sound a little bit like Pope Francis.
[00:13:26] Speaker C: And coming back in the third year was a shock because you had to have me for two classes.
[00:13:31] Speaker D: A lot of reason. From a zero page.
Very, very, very good. Excellent, Professor.
[00:13:39] Speaker C: I have the privilege of teaching Catholic social doctrine, which I talk to Bishop Murphy about all the time.
[00:13:44] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:13:44] Speaker C: He was highly engaged with that.
[00:13:45] Speaker A: Yes, indeed.
[00:13:46] Speaker C: And now in the spring, I'm doing Catholic bioethics. They're great topics. They're great topics. I enjoy them.
[00:13:51] Speaker B: Monsignor, you started your podcast. What was the reasoning behind starting Never too late.
[00:13:57] Speaker C: We had a sense that this is a place that a lot of people didn't know about, that it's a very well kept secret. So we wanted to get the story out that not only does a place like this exist, but there are men like Gerardo who come here who thrive. An interesting thing. 93% of the guys who come here to start seminary get ordained. And it's because these guys come, they're putting aside their whole adult life to make this commitment. And with God's help, they make it and they keep it. And then 94% of those guys ordained never leave the ministry. There's something special that goes on here. Cardinal Cushing founded the place in 1964, so we're in the 61st, 62nd year now. And what's amazing is it was brilliantly conceived. We're just carrying on the tradition that's been handed on to us by great priests beforehand from Boston, but from other dioceses. You have one of your own great priests here, Father Joe Zwasta.
[00:14:52] Speaker A: That's right. Very proud of him on the faculty here. I know he's a great gift to this place. He's also a great help to me. You know, this is some of the beauty of the priesthood. Sometimes released from diocesan service. You see that term released from vast to serve in another place. Yeah, but he's never not a priest of Brooklyn, and so he's certainly forming some of our men. We've had a number of guys ordained from here, even in the short time that I've been in Brooklyn, Queens, and it's great to have somebody here in that capacity. But he's also a great resource for me, he's helped me to craft some statements, we read through some things to bounce ideas off of and for him to bounce ideas. He's been a great resource in there, too, to connect with that Catholic social doctrine of the Church, to connect a lot of the issues that we're facing on a day to day basis. Things that we read in the news that often are seen through the lens of political parties, but rather to see them through the lens of Catholic social teaching.
[00:15:48] Speaker C: Exactly. And he's a great help to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops as well. He reviews catechetical materials for conformity with the catechism. He enjoys that work very much.
[00:15:58] Speaker B: Yeah, he's very good at it.
[00:15:59] Speaker C: Yeah, he really is good. No, he's been a great blessing here, not only as a professor and a mentor to the men, but as the academic dean coordinating the whole academic project for us. He's been really very good.
[00:16:11] Speaker A: I know numbers are always a concern in the seminary, and like many seminaries, you face those challenges. I think in a seminary like this, there are the ebbs and flows because you are serving a very particular group of people.
[00:16:25] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:16:25] Speaker A: So even myself, I've had conversations with Father Kiley and said, you know, we send guys here regularly and I haven't been sending as many in recent years. But it's not because of not wanting to send people here. It's just fellows who would be eligible to come. We just haven't seen as many coming forward. And Father Kiley said something very interesting. He said, can I counter that? He said, maybe it's because you haven't been looking. And he really encouraged this idea of trying to search out people who may have heard the call once before and are still living good Catholic, Christian lives and saying there's still something there and maybe reconnecting. Actually, I told Deacon Harado this this morning, but then he also said, that's the job of our alumni.
[00:17:12] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:17:13] Speaker A: So they got to go out there and secret out there. And again, you sort of have a nose for it when you identify and you say, okay, I was in your shoes.
[00:17:23] Speaker C: Yep, yep, I was in your shoes.
[00:17:25] Speaker A: And I see in you what other people saw in me. So we're counting on you, Deacon Arado. And I told him he's starting today right, with this podcast.
[00:17:33] Speaker C: Good, good. No, that's really. And I say to our audience all the time, if you see A man from 30 to 60 who, you know, displays a holiness that is worthy of the priesthood because God has given him that, don't hesitate to say something to him, sometimes it's just the key that unlocks the door for him to start thinking about it. And as you did, your story was wonderful, Gerardo. About you wanted to flee. You know, the challenge that people were putting before you. But God wouldn't let you flee. You must read. If you haven't, Francis Thompson's the Hound of Heaven. Yes, it's a wonderful poem. God does not let up. It's worth reading. And for our listeners. God wants all of us with him one day in heaven. And all we've got to do is to figure out what's the path that he wants me on, to get there. And thank God you've discovered it. What a wonderful thing that is. I think we can all tell you as priests and as a bishop. That there's nothing that makes you happier. Than to have the sense that you're doing what God wants you to do.
[00:18:31] Speaker A: It's absolutely true. Absolutely true. And the life itself is just incredibly interesting, you know, it really is. The life of a priest is incredibly interesting.
[00:18:39] Speaker B: The men that I've had the privilege of meeting. Spoke very highly about the first Friday program that happens here. Monsignor, could you speak a little bit about that?
[00:18:48] Speaker C: I will. We inaugurated that, I think, three or four years ago. It's a good program. We invite men who want to come to the seminary for first Friday. Now, obviously, they're mostly locals, but we also provide a video stream of a prayer service we have at 5 o'clock in the afternoon on first Friday. Unless we're away that first Friday. And the men can video stream in. And then we'll do a zoom with them afterwards to talk about their vocational discernment. The seminarians do that. And then I come in after 20, 25 minutes. If they've got any questions that they want to ask a formator about. So I do that. And then once that piece is finished at 7:00, they stay for dinner. Then at 7:00, the ones who are here I'll sit with as long as an hour. Just. Just to talk with them about their own discernment. And they're local people. And I'm very well connected to the vocation director here and his assistant So I kind of try to keep them on track. It's been a good program. The guys learn a lot about it. We have a number of men for whom bishops, unlike yourself, Bishop Brennan, won't accept a man who's older. And so I don't get involved in it. Because I don't think the administration of the seminary should get involved in it. But we get the seminarians to help guys know what kind of bishops are open to the possibility of having an older guy. So it's a very fruitful program. And I think it brings a lot of consolation to men who, like Gerardo years ago, didn't know what to do with the suggestion that they think about priesthood. It helps them to put things in order, put things in shape for themselves.
[00:20:17] Speaker B: It truly is thought provoking. As Bishop mentioned, you know, Father Kiley, maybe we're not looking hard enough. Perhaps it has changed even the way in which at the Holy Mass I offer the intention for vocations. It used to be that more young men and women may have the courage to serve God in this church. And now it's that more men and women have the courage to serve God in this church. I mean, why limit it? Why limit it to just simply. It's also thought provoking when you meet men in this formation, in this house that our grandparents, our grandfathers, Just the thought of being able to bring those experiences, their men here who've been business owners, who have worked in great companies, worked for the Department of Defense. I was really moved by many of your interviews with men who have been studying here, who've cared for their spouses and suffered through the death of a spouse. And just turning that love then to the communities that they're called to serve. It's just really moving. It's very, very touching and it's a great blessing. I'm honored to be able to participate in the spring, you know, for a brief period with the men.
[00:21:19] Speaker C: No, they're amazing. And, you know, the more you watch it, the more you realize the beauty of God's grace. It's amazing. I mean, you know, it reminds me of the little lichen that's going to come right up through the concrete. No matter how much concrete you put down. God's grace works like that. And you see it in these guys, and they see it. It's when they begin to see it and hold on to it that you can see the real seedling of priesthood coming to prosper.
[00:21:42] Speaker A: You know, our ordinations are a little bit later this year because we have one fellow in Rome. So we're going to be having ordinations at the end of June. The other thing is, by set of circumstances, we're going to have the good news of ordaining seven men. Gerardo is one of seven men being ordained as priests this year. But with the later ordination, it's going to be during the jubilee of priest Nice. And so Friday is the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Saturday, the Immaculate Heart of Jesus, and Sunday the feast of St. Peter and Paul. So you'll be celebrating your Mass of Thanksgiving on the feast of St. Peter and Paul. But for us, this is in the jubilee year. That weekend is what Pope Francis is called to be the Jubilee of Priests. And so your ordination, ordaining your six brothers with you, it's going to be a source of great encouragement to the priests of the diocese. And that's always, always a good thing. To see a man who's given himself to this formation and then who joins us as a brother is always a great blessing.
[00:22:37] Speaker C: Blessing. No, that's wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. Well, we're all happy for you.
[00:22:42] Speaker D: I'm happy to be here, too. When I work in restaurant. Right. The restaurant had a slogan, right. And that slogan was, when you are here, you are family. And that I applied to the seminary here. When you are here, you are family. Why? Because we take care of each other, you know, and that's something beautiful, because that helps you as a future preach to take care of God's people, treat other people as your own family. Your suffering is going to be my suffering. I will be praying for you. I will visit you in the hospital.
Get the best version of yourself. Like Father Kylie, director of this seminary, he says one time when he interviewed me in 2020, he said to me, gerardo, let me tell you something. Yes, Father? People will not remember much about what you preach on the pulpit, but people will never remember that you were there when somebody was sick and you were there when somebody died and you were present over there. They will never forget that moment. And I think that that's powerful and that's something that I have learned here in the seminary. You know, that's beautiful that we should take care of each other, you know, because we are one family here.
[00:23:56] Speaker A: Well said. Well said. If there was an ordination test, that would be the answer. That is so beautifully said. And I'm looking forward to your ordination and to your blessing. And I thank you here at Pope St John XXIII for forming wonderful priests and future priests.
[00:24:11] Speaker C: Thanks. It's a privilege.
[00:24:12] Speaker A: Bishop.
[00:24:13] Speaker B: Bishop, perhaps you could end with the prayer and a blessing for us all.
[00:24:17] Speaker C: Sure.
[00:24:17] Speaker A: The Lord be with you and with your spirit. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May him come 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 remain with you forever and ever.
[00:24:33] Speaker C: Amen.
[00:24:33] Speaker B: Thank you all for joining us. Thank you, Monsignor. Thank you, Deacon Gerardo, for joining us on our diocesan podcast, Big City Catholics. This crossover episode with Never Too Late, also found on Apple podcasts and Spotify and other streaming platforms. We hope that you'll join us again next week week at another edition of Big City Catholics.
