Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: Welcome back to a new edition of our diocesan podcast, Big City Catholics, with Bishop Robert Brennan, the diocesan Bishop of Brooklyn and Queens, myself, Father Christopher Henyu, here at the CO Cathedral of St Joseph. Today we're joined by Father Christopher Bethje, our vocation director for the Diocese of Brooklyn and also a faculty member at Cathedral Prep, where both he and I are graduates and around the same time, even when we were studying together in that great school in our diocese, we're both proud graduates of cathedral. We're happy to have you join us today, Father Bethjeek. We'll begin in prayer. Certainly. Our cathedral prep and our vocations, our diocese, we bring to the intercession of our Blessed Mother as we 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.
[00:00:59] Speaker A: Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
[00:01:04] Speaker B: In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen. You know, this podcast releases just after our podcast last Friday when we were joined with Monsignor Fay and Deacon Gerardo when we were visiting Pope St. John the 23rd National Seminary up in Weston, Massachusetts. So it's nice to kind of continue this theme of vocations, but before we even get there, a very blessed Lent to you both. Bishop. Very blessed Lent, Yes.
[00:01:28] Speaker A: That had been pre recorded. So this is really our first chance to talk about Lent. How was Ash Wednesday at the Coke Cathedral?
[00:01:35] Speaker B: It was massive crowds and I think this is what we're hearing from a lot of people. We had great, great crowds at the Coke Cathedral and St. Teresa of Avalon.
[00:01:43] Speaker A: That's great, that's good. And Father Betsy, you have a pretty steady crowd over at Cathedral Prep.
[00:01:49] Speaker C: We do. And you know, sometimes Lent beat falls on midwinter recess or President's Week. So then we're off. So it was nice this year that everyone was in session, the school was open, so we were able to begin Lent Mass and then with Holy hour right after.
[00:02:02] Speaker A: That does set a nice tone. It's a good way to be together with Ash Wednesday. And then of course this weekend we had divided election. The first Sunday of Lent is always the right of election. And we welcomed hundreds of people from parishes in Queens and Brooklyn who are preparing to receive baptism, confirmation and Eucharist in their own parishes at the east of vigil. But going back to some of the ancient customs, the catechumens now called elect, gather with the Bishop beforehand and stake their intention to enter into this period of intense preparation and commit themselves to prayer and to following the Gospel. It's always an inspiration. It's always an inspiration because the three of us, for example, we were born in Tuafi, and it comes naturally to us. But when you see somebody who freely chooses it from their own life experience, it makes you stop and think about what we believe. What does come naturally, we can easily take for granted. So I always find these kinds of events very inspiring.
[00:03:05] Speaker B: And Bishop, there's an article in this week's Tablet about this event that took place. Over 700 people gathered. I mean, that's really. We've talked about this a number of times. A theme that comes up when there's a great crowd gathered together, all with the energy and the excitement that must come from that. It must be such a. An inspiration for you, too, in your own ministry.
[00:03:25] Speaker A: It's just great to see people embracing faith. It really is.
[00:03:29] Speaker B: Well, Bishop, as we begin Lent, we also begin our Lenten pilgrimage. This is our third year doing this Lenten pilgrimage. I know that this is an exciting time for you.
[00:03:37] Speaker A: It is. It helps me in my own personal practice of Lent, my own spirituality, to be able to visit the station churches myself. Sometimes I'm able to offer the morning Mass. Sometimes I'm there for the closing benediction. Sometimes I just get 15 minutes to stop in the church and pray during the course of the day. But it's nice to have that daily consciousness of it. So this week I was down in Washington, D.C. with the administrative committee of the USCCB, now that I chair the Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church, I have responsibility to go to those meetings and great meetings. But I missed two of our days here. I used the National Shrine Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. So I did get to make my visits. Just wasn't the designated station churches in Brooklyn. That's something you can say something about this huge basilica, this beautiful spot. And I'm saying it's almost as good.
[00:04:28] Speaker B: As Brooklyn to be able to be gathered and you were able to be present for a pretty historic installation in our country, the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops, the installation of Cardinal McElroy in the Archdiocese of Washington. That's a big assignment. That's a very big appointment.
[00:04:45] Speaker A: Yes. And two, we pray for our Holy Father. We continue to pray for him during his illness. I know that he's been sustained by the prayers of the people, so we continue to pray for him. And I always say, using his own words, we pray as people of hope and trust in God. And we submit ourselves to God's healing power, to God's saving will. And we pray in a very intense way for Pope Francis these days.
[00:05:13] Speaker B: Amen. Amen. Well, Bishop, we are so grateful to have Father Chris Bethjoy here with us, our vocation director. I know that's the topic of our conversation today. Today recently, there was a great turnout on a bishop's retreat for vocations. Father Bethjie, perhaps you want to talk a little bit about that and explain the great success that that was.
[00:05:31] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:05:31] Speaker C: We had the annual bishops retreat the weekend of February 28th, March 1st and March 2nd. And we were out at the seminary in Huntington, which is the seminary where Bishop Brennan studied for his priesthood. And I was there for one year prior to moving up to St. Joseph's Seminary. So whenever we have the opportunity to go out there, just to get away from the city for a little while, to enter into the prayerfulness of the chapel, to explore the beautiful grounds, it was beautiful. But this weekend in particular, we had 42 young men with us who are discerning the possibility of priesthood. So that enhanced even more.
[00:06:02] Speaker B: That's a great turnout. And those are young men from all different parishes in our diocese and of different ages. What's about the age group from that?
[00:06:11] Speaker C: The age range was 16 to 22. The. I'd say the average age was about 20, but, yeah, from all over the diocese. And I think one of the things that I experienced, I hope, Bishop, you did as well, is that there weren't many strangers there. No people that we recognize from their parishes, from other diocesan events. And that was encouraging as well.
[00:06:29] Speaker A: Sacristans, altar service, people who are involved, students at the prep, people who've taken part in the Project Andrews or the Jeremiah Project, the different vocation events along the way. You're right. They weren't total strangers. And we had people of varying degrees of interest. So some are ready to make the application process, and that's great. We're looking forward to their coming into formation. Others kind of giving it very serious thought, maybe still have a little more schooling to finish or something along those lines. And some were really there because somebody invited them. They're just open to the possibility. And this was a retreat, really, to focus in not only on being a priest, but what is God asking of me? This was a chance for a young man to have a conversation with God, to hear some information, to process it, but then to take it to prayer and just say, God, where are you leading me in my life? What are the gifts and the talents. But all of them, and I say this with conviction, all of them were there to give God a chance. And that's all I ask, you know, give God a chance. And if you give God a chance, you might be surprised at some of the things he does in your life. Some of them. Oh, would that many of them choose to become priests, but even those for whom who discovered. No, this is not what I want. God uses this opportunity to help give them direction and also to prepare them for any state of life. To prepare. I often say at these retreats that the preparation to go into the seminary is really the same preparation you need to be a good Christian gentleman, a good husband, a good father. So it was a great opportunity.
[00:08:03] Speaker B: That's a very blessed place. As Father Bethji mentioned, it was home for seminarians for many, many years. Where you yourself studied Bishop and Father Bethj at least a year. And where I remember when we were in high school seminary, having the ability to go out there to Huntington for a few days of a retreat in our junior year and our senior year. And really for me, my junior year retreat at Huntington was the catalyst for really helping me to discern a vocation to the priesthood. So it's a special place.
[00:08:33] Speaker A: It is. And it has its Brooklyn roots. I mean, if you go around the building, you'll see Brooklyn all over. See Archbishop Malloy's coat of arms. Archbishop Molloy, the third bishop of Brooklyn, built the seminary out in Huntington during the Depression when it was all one diocese. When the diocese split, it became part of Rockville center, but even then continued to serve as the major place of formation for many, many Brooklyn priests.
[00:08:59] Speaker C: And the bishop's retreat had been in Douglaston up until Covid. But during COVID when we needed more space to spread out, we moved it out there. And I find it to be so beneficial. As Father Chris said, there's something about that place that really opens up the heart to listen to God's will.
[00:09:14] Speaker B: And so, Father Best, you tell us a little bit about the state of the diocese in terms of our seminarians and where we stand currently.
[00:09:21] Speaker C: Yeah. So we're all looking forward with great joy to June when we have the privilege of ordaining seven men to the priesthood for our diocese. Seven new priests. And actually, we're at the right at the point where the applications are coming due. So we're happy that it looks like we're going to be welcoming six new seminarians as well. So seven get sent out and six more come in, but total right now we have 41 seminarians. So we're very grateful to God that he continues to bless our diocese. But it's amazing to see that there are so many out there who are considering it. You know, it's easy to say, oh, next year we're going to have this number. Well, ultimately, that's up to God. But we do have a good, serious amount of young men, or open to it if it is God's plan.
[00:10:01] Speaker A: Right. Very few people walk in the door and say, I think I want to be a priest and fill out the application. It's sort of like in baseball. You need to have a bench, you need to develop a farm team or whatever. So just to know that there's that interest at all the different levels, that's really important for the future.
[00:10:15] Speaker C: And it's a journey. I hope the retreat was a great experience for them. But it's a start, you know, to start to start a conversation, to start listening to God's plan and telling God what we want for ourselves. And then, as it's often said, when our will and God's will meet, that's where we find true happiness.
[00:10:32] Speaker B: Amen. And you have, as a part of the program for vocations in the diocese, opportunities for young men to meet on a monthly basis, different age groups. Can you speak a little bit about that? What is it that we offer?
[00:10:44] Speaker C: So we really have three main events, right? We have Fraternitas, which is a program for younger students, sixth, seventh, and eighth graders, and that takes place one Saturday a month at Cathedral Prep. So it really is not only just an open house for Cathedral Prep, seminary, high school, but it's an opportunity for them to come together in that age range for holy hour, for Mass, for open gym, for pizza, and to kind of just start asking the question, you know, do I really believe this faith? Do I want to follow Jesus in his way? What does it mean to call Jesus a friend? What does it mean to be a disciple? So asking the very basic questions from the beginning of our faith at that young age is very important. Once every other month, we offer Jeremiah Project, which is a weekend retreat up at St. Joseph Seminary in Dunwoody, where I spent three years of formation. And it's an opportunity to encounter the seminarians of our diocese, to pray with them, to have holy hours in the chapel there, to have Mass together, and to focus on a theme of discernment, whether it be, what does it mean to be a priest? What are the fears that I have keeping me from discerning God's plan? For me to be a priest, how do I know what God wants? So it's a weekend retreat once every other month. And then one of the events that I find most fruitful is the Project Andrew. And the Project Andrew takes place every month, September to June, and it's an opportunity for us to invite the young men from our diocese to an evening with one of the bishops. So it takes place in the different deaneries, and the different pastors invite the young men that they encounter on a weekly basis, their sacrostans, their altar server, those who are involved, to consider whether or not God could be calling them to the priesthood. And that's really where we get most of the people who are interested, because there we see what the pastors see. I'm not in every parish every weekend, so I don't know the good things that are happening there. But the pastors do, and they're so generous in offering that invitation to attend.
[00:12:42] Speaker A: Great. That's a good answer. That's perfect. One of the things that happens, Father Betche, is that they hear from seminarians about their call. When we do the Project Andrew, priests share the story of their call. And as you said, every one is different. One of the elements of your own call is that you were invited to think about the call to priesthood by a parishioner, somebody who said to you, did you ever think about being a priest and noticed your reverence for the blessed Sacrament? That can kind of startle you, but it also tells you that there's something to it.
[00:13:15] Speaker C: I think sometimes when we hear God speaking to us in unexpected ways and unexpected places, that makes it clearer more than anything else. So the priests in my parish and the priests at Cathedral Prep, they encouraged us to consider priesthood all the time. So it was a common theme. And we heard it over and over again. And sometimes it became so routine that it went in one ear and out the other. One afternoon when I was working at Sacred Heart, it was a woman who was in the church praying her rosary who came up to me and said, have you ever thought about becoming a priest? And it was so unexpected, so random, from a person who I barely knew. That kind of confirmed everyone else who was asking that same question. You know, one of the vocation materials we use is called lend your voice to Christ. And it's not to discerners, but it's to priests that God calls through them. But equally God calls through all his people. And I always say that. That afternoon at Sacred Heart in Glendale, even though it was Rita's lips moving, I know that was God speaking. That God breaks through us.
[00:14:16] Speaker A: Exactly. And I find that when we have these different gatherings of the retreat, the younger fellows are very interested in those experiences the way that other people experience the call. Sometimes it comes a little bit late in the game, sometimes it's always been there. But in every case, the Lord is working in a different way. It's amazing.
[00:14:35] Speaker C: In February, we had the opportunity to do Project Andrew together at Immaculate Heart of Mary in Brooklyn. And that evening I made the point that this was my 36th project Andrew in the past four years. And how every time there's something about someone's story that catches my attention, every time there's something that I'm able to say, wow, I never thought about that before because it shows just how great the Holy Spirit is, that the Holy Spirit works through everyone and through all places at all times. And if we're attentive to it, great things can happen.
[00:15:05] Speaker B: One thing that strikes me, as you were mentioning, Father Bethji, is the priests who are serving in the parishes and really the role of the support of our young men and young women in terms of discerning vocations to religious life. But in this case, we're talking now about the discerning vocations of the priesthood, the support that the young men have for each other. And I know that when I was graduating Cathedral Prep, there were, of the 44 of us graduating, five of us went on to the college seminary. And of the five, three were ordained priests. And those five men, those five of us were supporting one another. And I see it even in my first parish, Holy Child Jesus, where John Bola tow now one of our seminarians from the diocese, was just a great support for other young men. And they found sort of a niche among themselves and finding each other because it's, it's not easy certainly in the secular world to hear the voice of, of God in the midst of all the sound. And so what kind of advice do you give to young men in that regard? In terms of when they say, like, I don't know if I have family support or friends support, where can they find that support?
[00:16:12] Speaker C: Well, similarly, when I entered seminary, it was three of us from Cathedral Prep that entered. And to this day, Father Daniel Kingsley, my classmate all the way back freshman year of high school, remains a great support for me in my priesthood and hopefully I in his. But that's, I think, the point of all these programs. You know, the Jeremiah Project brings together people who are like minded, who are open to what God is calling them to do, because it's easy in a parish where you're one, you're an individual, and everyone sees in that one individual that God is calling them. But seemingly no one else around them has that same experience. So when you bring them together for Jeremiah Project, or when they're all together at Project Andrew, it's a eye opening to see that, wow, there's other people thinking the same way. And I think the 42 at the retreat in Huntington, you know, that was something I noticed right away, is that no one there was ashamed to say they were thinking about priesthood. They were all there because someone had encouraged them to think about priesthood and they were all open. You know, I found it amazing because, you know, Bishop has a great singing voice. Me, not so much. But even as we were praying the liturgy of the hours, they joined in the songs. Never hearing them before, but they joined right in because they were open to experience what it was all about. Praising God and allowing God to speak to them.
[00:17:25] Speaker A: The other thing we have, I think that helps us is we have some great youth ministry. In the old days, some priests my age and older would point to the religious sisters were great ones for asking young men to think about being priests. We don't have as many people encountering sisters on a regular basis, but in our youth ministry programs, we see young people being brought to either different events, to eucharistic adoration, to our World Youth Day. We have some very vibrant youth ministry days. Why we had a big rally in November. But I find that among those youth ministers is also that awareness of vocations, that some of the young people might be open to God's calling them in their life. And they're very good about responding to some of these events.
[00:18:12] Speaker C: Yeah. I mean, though it's true that many of the men came from different parishes, you could tell that there were certain parishes that were making a concerted effort to support. And that's true across all of our.
[00:18:21] Speaker A: Programming and of course, all of our priests. We count on them and we appreciate when they share their stories. That's where those Project Andrews nights come in, because it's meeting with a local group of priests and a little bit of an exchange in a very informal way. Obviously, we have a great concern for diocesan priests because, well, that's part of my job. I need to be able to serve our parishes. But I'm also a great believer in promoting vocations to religious life, to religious orders of priests, and then to sisters and two brothers who serve the church. You know, some of our great institutions, we either founded by or staffed by, continue to be staffed by religious congregations. And we're really glad for those charisms. Since then, some new orders have either come into the diocese or grown up over the years. And you know, I say with great pride that maybe it's not huge numbers, but it's not nobody double negative. We have young women entering into various different religious communities. We have I know a brother fellow information as a religious brother, Marist brother, and then religious priests. Boy, these are great blessings for the church, and I want to be able to encourage it. And we're looking forward, we mentioned earlier the youth and young adult holy hours. One of those youth and Young adult holy hours is going to coincide with our Lenten pilgrimage. And so I'm looking forward to next Friday, March 21st. We're going to be at the Immaculate Conception center in Douglaston, the beautiful chapel there. And we invite people to make that part of your Lenten pilgrimage sometime during the course of of the day on March 21st. But that evening, we're going to host our regular monthly youth and young adult holy hour, and we're going to be focusing on religious vocations. And Father Pimpetti, you did a lot of the work to get that into place.
[00:20:14] Speaker C: Yeah, it's an event that we're definitely looking forward to, where two of our religious communities, their vocation director, are homegrown. They're from Brooklyn and Queens, and we look forward to them sharing their story to inspire our young people to consider if God could be calling them to do the same.
[00:20:30] Speaker A: And my goal is that some of the young people see that people like them, who have similar experience, who grew up in either Brooklyn or Queens and set in the same pews in the local churches and come from the various different cultural communities are represented in these religious vocations. It's a great blessing for us and we got to share that good news.
[00:20:50] Speaker C: And again, when people come together, it really makes an impact. So seeing that chapel full is something that I look forward to next Friday. I remember when I was discerning and when I was a seminarian, we used to have the monthly holy hours out at the seminary in Huntington.
[00:21:04] Speaker A: Right.
[00:21:04] Speaker C: And seeing all the young people there and seeing all those who were eager, maybe even if they weren't discerning, just to be with together and be together in fellowship among the Lord in the Eucharist was such a powerful encounter, and I look forward to that next Friday. We've invited many of our communities and 14 of them have responded. So we're going to have 14 different communities downstairs in McIntaggart hall as we promote those vocations.
[00:21:30] Speaker A: You know, in some parishes there are people who have experience of religious life, but not every parish. But it gives everybody a chance to meet the different religious communities, to know a little bit about them, the different charisms, the different works.
[00:21:43] Speaker B: So just to recap, this will take place on Friday, March 21, at the Immaculate Conception center that's located at 7200 Douglaston Parkway. And that holy hour starts at 7pm and then the vocations fair starts at 8pm Immediately after. So I hope that our listeners can certainly share the word about this great event that's coming up. And I know that DeSales Media and the Tablet certainly will be covering this great event.
[00:22:08] Speaker C: It seems to be a lot of excitement, too. Whenever I go out to the parishes, a lot of people seem to be looking forward to joining us that evening. So I'm really excited about it.
[00:22:15] Speaker A: Exactly. It should be a good day. And, you know, and that's geared especially to our young people at night, but that is the station through the day. So I invite you to take a look at the schedule for the Lenten pilgrimage during the week. Actually, next week is going to be packed with different days. We celebrate St. Patrick's Day and we'll be in Bay ridge that night. St. Joseph's you're going to be hosting at the Co Cathedral on the patronal feast. Right.
[00:22:36] Speaker B: On Our Solemnity of St. Joseph from the Co Cathedral. Yeah. We have a great day planned with Eucharistic adoration and the Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3pm and then a mass at 7pm that you'll celebrate. Bishop Trilingual Mass for our community, followed by some light refreshments downstairs. And we have about 40 or so of our parishioners that have been making the consecration to St. Joseph. They'll be making it at that Mass in your presence as well. So this Lenten pilgrimage is certainly an exciting, exciting time for all of us.
[00:23:04] Speaker A: It is. It marks some of the key moments along the way during this journey of Lent. And then of course, on Friday, the exciting day at Douglaston, followed by the evening with the holy hours. You know, one other thing before we conclude with prayer is that I see 2 father bet she mentioned our youth programs, but we're seeing fruit in our campus ministry and, and even in the young adult ministry. So shalom. So we're seeing people just being open to where God is calling them through those avenues as well. Right.
[00:23:33] Speaker C: It's definitely both at the campus ministry with focus with the focus missionaries and the Shalom community, definitely two of their members, a few of their members actually attended the retreat. But definitely. And it strikes. What's always so evident is that where there's a love for the Eucharist, there's a love for the priesthood. And with the love for the Eucharist, that's where the vocations come. You know, even what we started doing here at Cathedral Prep during Lent is every morning from 7 to 7:40, just exposing the Eucharist for anyone who's here who wants to make that part of their Lenten practice, to come into the chapel, to spend all 40 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, whatever it is. And each day you could see the number just growing and the devotion. And it's a beautiful thing where there's a love for the Eucharist, there's a desire to serve the Eucharist as priests, or even just in our parishes as faithful lay men and women.
[00:24:20] Speaker A: Father Betsy, I had to say, first of all, you and Christine in your office did an amazing job organizing the retreat. It's a lot of work organizing something like that and providing all of the different materials. And you do a great job, too. If you look at the brochures, you see the things that happen. We spoke about some of them on a monthly basis. It's not that we're event driven. It's that there's a regular rhythm of life and activity where there are opportunities to see where God is calling you. So I really appreciate the great work that you're doing for our diocese. And anybody who's ever been with me at Confirmation has heard me say, when we're talking about vocations, God is doing amazing things in Brooklyn and Queens. So we give thanks to the Lord for the work that he does in and among us. And sometimes, as my friend says, even in spite of us. You know what? It'd be nice to conclude this conversation with the prayer for vocations, which is on our vocation prayer card. So I'll conclude with that prayer. In the name of the Father and of the Son, of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Almighty God, we turn to you at this hour with all our hearts. Hear our prayers as we ask for an increase of vocations to the priesthood, diaconate and religious life to serve your church in Brooklyn and Queens. May we always have the ministers we need to stand at your altars, administer your sacraments, and lead your people on the path to heaven. We pray that we will always be attentive to your call and that if today we hear your voice, we may harden out our hearts, rather that we may have the courage to respond with generosity through Christ our Lord. Amen.
[00:25:57] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:25:58] Speaker A: The Lord be with you.
[00:25:59] Speaker C: And with your spirit.
[00:26:01] Speaker A: May Almighty God bless you, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[00:26:05] Speaker B: Thank you, Bishop. And thank you, Father Bethri, for joining us. We certainly assure you of our prayers for your work, that you're doing great work for the diocese, and certainly for the Church Universal. And we hope that those who listen and join in each and every week will continue to please spread the word of the great event happening on March 21st. And a very blessed continuation of Lent to you all. We'll join you again next week.
[00:26:27] Speaker A: Week. God bless.
