Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:10 Thanks for coming back to, uh, another edition of Big City Catholics. Our podcast with Bishop Robert Brennan, the Bishop of Brooklyn, and myself, Father Christopher Hek Bishop. We're starting this month of October and it's been a very, very busy time. It's continued to get busy. There's been a lot in the news recently, certainly the massive hurricanes that have affected so many Hurricane Fiona, and most recently Hurricane Ian, and especially here in our city of New York. We mourn the loss of, of our fd n y ems, Allison Russo eing lieutenant, uh, now posthumously raised to the rank of captain. We mourn her loss. So there's so much to, to be mindful of. And I think with all of that in mind, uh, we can begin this podcast in prayer. In the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Offering our prayers in this month of October for all those who need our prayers, for those affected by the recent hurricanes for the loss, uh, for the soul of Captain Allison Russo eing for all the prayers which we hold in our hearts, we bring to our blessed mother and we pray Hail Mary, full of grace.
Speaker 1 00:01:17 The Lord is with the blessed art thou amongst women and blessed. It is the fruit of the I womb Jesus.
Speaker 2 00:01:23 Holy marrying mother of God. Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Speaker 1 00:01:28 Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen.
Speaker 2 00:01:32 Indeed. What a, what what sad news. We were way last week on the priest convocation when we received news about the brutal, I mean, really just a brutal murder of Lieutenant Russo eling. And in the days since we've seen how she was a beloved figure in that firehouse, sort of the mom of the house. Yeah. But, but really also a very generous giving person, you know, And her family mourn her loss, but so does the family of the FD and y f d Dny. And you know, it's sad, but on occasions like this, it gives us pause to give thanks for all the men and women who live their lives in service, really for our protection, our safety Yeah. And our wellbeing right here in the city of New York, and really everywhere. So we certainly pray for her. We pray for her colleagues. Yeah. And, and we pray for our city. I mean, it's a sad commentary to see the effect of crime and I mean, just random violent crimes. So we pray for, for the people of our city,
Speaker 1 00:02:34 Our podcast entitled Big City Catholics. These are parts of being a citizen of a big metropolitan city. You know, these acts of violence is acts of crime, homelessness, mental illness, the
Speaker 2 00:02:46 Protection. Yeah. We had an occasion just this week with one of our churches being attacked by a fellow purposely driving over the sign and doing rather ld and disgusting things right there on the front lawn, destroying a statue of the blessed mother and shouting things indicating that it was a direct attack. And, you know, it stops us in our tracks just to see the, the reality of these situations. And we think of people who are suffering from different kinds of acts of violence or hatred or, or safety. And we all do our part, We continue to pray. We pray for the transformation of our city. We pray for the wellbeings of our, our citizens, and we strive ourselves to be, you know, we celebrated St. Francis this week. Instruments of peace, of God's peace. Yeah. Try to become instruments of God's peace. But again, doing so with the tremendous gratitude for those who do protect us, especially in these trying times, Well,
Speaker 1 00:03:44 On our church. Both the church universal, but certainly the church local here in Brooklyn and Queens work hard to foster that sense of peace to provide, uh, help for those in need. The Catholic charities and migration services have been very busy
Speaker 2 00:04:00 Catholic charities in migration services, but a number of our parishes. So we're seeing many people showing up at our doors in, in need of help. And, and our response is what it always is, we're dealing with human beings. Oh, I know there are political issues involved with the immigration, but the, and, and we really do need comprehensive reform that that's clear and that's true on all sides of the political argument. But what we see, what we been doing is we respond to human needs, to people who show up at outdoors hungry or are in these cases literally with nothing. Some people who coming over wearing shorts and, uh, flip flops, having absolutely nothing else. And, and then, you know, trying to plug people into what's out there. And we do it because it's what we do all the time. It's not just something we're jumping into, respond to a particular need, but it's something we strive to do.
Speaker 2 00:04:49 So I give thanks to our parishes and parishes helping each other working together Yeah. To help each other along the way. The response to the hurricane parishes are taking up collections two hurricanes, Fiona. That's right. And Ian. So we are going to be providing aid and contributing to the aid efforts, and we pray there for those who've suffered, people who've lost everything. Yeah. Everything. But there too, when you talk about people who serve the community, who protect, and they're out there, people out there trying to rescue and build up, and there's so much work to be done. So Yeah. It said there's a lot of suffering right now. Yeah. But as people of faith and people of hope, we, we turn to the Lord and we build each other up along the way.
Speaker 1 00:05:31 I, I'd also say, you know, that's what I, we are thinking about, uh, hope and healing, and I think this might be a nice good opportunity to even mention that this next week, uh, you are gonna be celebrate of a mass of your first
Speaker 2 00:05:44 Yeah. Our annual mass of hope and healing for all those who have suffered, particularly sexual abuse, but many kind of abuse at any level. Certainly, uh, shamefully within the church, but also in, in any place, and by anyone. This is an opportunity. We, we have that on Thursday night, and we'll be doing that at Resurrection Ascension Church in Regal Park at be carried by net tv. So we invite anyone to come and pray, um, for those who suffered any kind of abuse. And again, Yes. Seeking hope and healing. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:06:22 Yeah. So Bishop, this has been a very busy time for all of us. As we were mentioned in the beginning of the podcast, but at the end of September, uh, we all came together. All of the priests came together for our priests convocation. It was your first time, obviously at our priest convocation. It happens once every three years. And man, more than ever did we need it this year. And I think it was just a real blessing. What was your
Speaker 2 00:06:47 It was, so I was convinced for personal reasons, but also practical reasons that we needed to have the priest convocation. As you mentioned, it's a three year cycle, however, because of the realities of Covid, it's been a little more than three years now. Sure, sure. And probably closer to, to five. Mm. And this was not even scheduled for this year because when you would've scheduled, it was still a time of uncertainty. I was only announced as coming here about a year ago. This That's right. Time's last year. But it, so there wasn't anything on the books for 2022, but it, it was pretty clear to me we needed to meet, we needed to be together, and I needed to be able to spend time That's right. With the whole of the presbyter. It spent some quality time. So I was looking forward to it. And now that it's completed, I'm even more certain that we needed to do this. Yeah. Um, the priest really very much enjoyed it. They enjoyed being together. It strengthens us renews. We had some very good speaker last Wednesday. We recorded last week's podcast because it was the day that Monsignor James, she, uh, the keynote addressed the priest, but he joined us. That was great. For last week's. That was such a powerful conversation that we,
Speaker 1 00:07:57 We could have kept going.
Speaker 2 00:07:58 We could've kept going, uh, except he had a plane to catch. He was, he was trying to beat out hurricane, uh, Ian. Ian. He, he had to get to, to Georgia and needed to get on the road before the plane stopped flying. That That's right. That's right. We, we go had him, But also we focused in on that. We really didn't get to talk much about the rest of the convocation, but all the presenters were great. Yeah. But the key thing is the priest had time to be
Speaker 1 00:08:24 Together. Yeah. It was great for brothers to dwell in unity, as they say, you know, to come together. And for me, it was my second convocation for the younger priests that newly ordained priests. Even one of them spoke publicly at one of the sessions saying, What a great opportunity this was for him to be in the midst of all of the brother priests. And I think in this week's tablet article about the convocation on senior Kalis quoted, as well as saying similarly from the other side, it's good for all the generations of priests to come together and just recognize that sense of fraternity. We're working together, we're in this together, we're supporting one another.
Speaker 2 00:08:59 And that's important. That in a sense, was one of the themes for the individual conferences. Monsignor, she kind of gave, gave us that sense of mission, that apostolic sense that the apostolic mission, but the others were really about precinct fraternity. And that's not about the good old boys club. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, that's not what this is all about. It's not recreational fraternity. Oh, yes. That's part of who we are. But the idea of fraternity gets down to a certain unity in mission. It's that shared experience of Christ who calls us into the ministerial priesthood, but also it's that mutual support and encouragement, you know, we need to encourage each other Yeah. And inspire each other. And I think that's what sort of happened last week. We strengthened those bonds to be stronger in now is service two the people of God.
Speaker 1 00:09:52 One of the points that struck me in one of the guest speakers was that if we as priests are counseling families and how to, you know, build a home, how to be a, a family, how to, to live in the sense of family life, um, then we ourselves should be practicing it in our own rectories. This is, I think, a, a common concern and, and a common challenge for many rectory is that, you know, pre serve are generally busy during the day, uh, with their own, with their ministry and their obligations, their meetings. And sometimes what comes last is to put on the calendar, we're sitting down together for dinner at such and such a time.
Speaker 2 00:10:33 I'd say two things. Yes, exactly. One, they are busy during the day and many activities take place in the evening. Yeah. So that's one piece. But one of the things I lament is the loss of the family meal across the board. You know, not just among priests, but in families and all that. That family meal becomes so important. So, so as it erodes everywhere else Yeah. It becomes something functional. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, the other thing for us as priest is it's, it needs to be intentional because now we're spread out in different places. So you, for example, you're in rectory with several priests. That's right. You know, you're all scattered about with different ministries. That's right. Um, and you're covering two parishes. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, some of our priests are alone where they are. So if you're going to have that kind of fraternal support, and if you are going to build up the structures of family life among rectory, sometimes that takes a little bit of extra planning. It takes a little bit of extra effort. That's right. And
Speaker 1 00:11:34 Intentionality. Intentionality.
Speaker 1 00:11:35 Yeah. One of the points was, you know, just come to a consensus among the brothers of the house that on this particular day, no one takes an evening obligation, an evening meeting. This is our one time to be together, to pray together, to eat together, to watch a movie together. You know, And just to build up that sense of family life and what, uh, an inspirational thought that was for me, because how often do I counsel families? And it made a lot of sense what this presenter was saying. It made a lot of sense to, if I'm gonna be counseling families on, on how to build that sense of family life, well then my rectory should image or mirror what I'm trying to preach to them. I know that you were at St. Bernard's recently for the blessing of a statue, and this month of October is the month of the re respect for life.
Speaker 2 00:12:23 Yeah. So Sunday was respect live Sunday at St. Bernard's. They had just installed an outdoor statue. It's beautiful. It, and it's on the wall of the church, on the outside of the Holy Family. And so visible as a great sign for all the families living in the Mill Basin area. It's a great sign for us to look at the Holy family. So we celebrated respect Life Sunday and tied it into Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and the image of family life, but also their family being the ground of respect for all life, respectful life at every moment, from the very first moment of conception until natural death, but also at every single moment in between. What's a family without mutual respect. Mm. Looking into the eyes of one another, seeing the image of God created in God's own image, just like Genesis says. Yes. Going out of our way to, to show respect mother, father, child, child to parents. It's just that respect has to be key. And of course, as St. Paul says, that your love for one another be the thread that ties it. Sure. Altogether. Sure. And we see that modeled, of course in Jesus. Mary and Joseph
Speaker 1 00:13:38 We're, uh, here at the co cathedral, we're in the process of commissioning a statue of St. Joseph. It's interesting, you know, when we g gathered together as a committee, we said, Well, what kind of a statue are we looking for? We, we have to be praying about this, but also recognizing what is it that our society, that our parish needs to see Joseph as the protector, Joseph as father, You know? And I think what a beautiful thing that this statue, the holy family that is, you know, that is what's corroding at times, is that the sense of family life. The culture. Monsignor Shay mentioned it. He said, you know, that the, just the atmosphere of raising a family now in 2022 is so much different than it was even when he was growing up. When I was growing up. When you were growing up. And so we're, we're fighting that we're fighting, we're swimming against the tide, we're swimming against
Speaker 2 00:14:25 Current. Right. And, you know, to go back to Monsignor Shay's point, we can lament that we can be nostalgic, but that's not what it's about. We wanna do is say, Okay, this is where I am. I'm living in the world of 2022, and there's an exciting call. And the family today is in itself a missionary venture. So these can be exciting times too. We can lament the loss of so much. But even, you know, when all those structures were there, there were other, other challenges. You, you know, he said, I think this, the sin of the society that supports your values is complacency just going along with the tide. Yeah. Which can even lead to almost a laziness. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, the challenge today is cowardice that we can feel overwhelmed by the challenges. But what Jesus has always done, he's done it in the Gospels. And what he does through the ages is he meets us where we are and helps us to become signs for the time Sure. Signs of the eternal truth of who he is and of his saving work, of who we are, created in God's own image and likeness. And then he allows us to be that salt for the earth, light for the world. Not because we are so perfect in all of that, but because living the joy of the gospel in today's world can be such a powerful, transformative tool.
Speaker 1 00:15:43 Yeah. It, it is, you know, rooted in, in faith, rooted in in love, inspired by the Holy family as well. This month of October is a month dedicated, uh, to our blessed mother. And, and, uh, Friday, the day of this podcast, uh, release is the feast of the Holy Rosary. Right. And so you re you were recently, uh, with all of the school, with a good number of school kids.
Speaker 2 00:16:07 So, um, first of all, feast the Rosary is an important one for me. I, you know, I have a great devotion, great love for the rosary in itself. My parents were married at Holy Rosary Parish in the Bronx. I've always been conscious, and many of the local congregations of Dominican sisters are connected to Our Lady of the Rosary. Um, it's a patron feast for many of our Dominican sisters. But this Friday the seventh is the Feast of Validy of the Rosary and October, the month of Rosary. So to sales media did a great job producing the rosary that we show daily. So we have the four mysteries. Yes. Sets of mysteries recorded them in the high schools. I, I hear from people all the time who love the fact that the high school students came together to pray the grocery mm-hmm. <affirmative> mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and are just moved by the prayers. And I'm, I'm glad for that. I, I'm, I'm really glad, I'm really proud of our students for this year. We, for month of October, we gathered elementary school
Speaker 1 00:17:09 Children. Nice.
Speaker 2 00:17:09 Very nice. And so, five different schools. Each school took a decade of the rosary, but it also shows the international flavor of our schools. Many prayed the prayers of the rosary in the language of their heritage, their parents language, perhaps their grandparents language. Even there, we only got a few. Right. So we had, um, English, of course, we had Spanish, we had Haitian Creole, we had Chinese, and, uh, we had Polish. So, uh, each decade picks up one of, of those languages as well as the mysteries of the rosary. So, uh, that'll be airing on net TV throughout the month of October to Premier on Friday, October 7th. But then it will air through through the month.
Speaker 1 00:17:56 That's awesome. That must have been great to be with all the kids.
Speaker 2 00:17:59 Oh, it was, it was,
Speaker 1 00:18:00 Yeah. You know, And that was in the Macular Conception Center in Douglasson, Right? That chapel is, It was,
Speaker 2 00:18:06 And you know, it's a, that's a lodge round sanctuary. So, so they had the students set up almost as if they were a living rosary. So they was set up with the cross, with the, our father three, Hail Mary's, Glory B, and then in groups of 10 for the decades. So, and its in something of a circle. So even they looked like a rosary,
Speaker 1 00:18:27 Like the ro, like their own rosary be That's awesome. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:18:30 And it is, the Rosary's a powerful tool. Maybe I can give a little plug for it. We turn to the Lord in our need. And, you know, the rosary is a way of centering us, of connecting us to the life of Jesus Christ. The mysteries of the rosary connect us to the life of Jesus Christ. But I always tell people, pray what you can, not what you can't. In other words, if you can do the whole rosary, and you know, there were all kinds of aids to help pray the rosary out there. But if you're able to do the rosary, you know, apostles creed, all the prayers mm-hmm. <affirmative> five mysteries. Wonderful, wonderful. If you can, right now, if you're not doing anything and you're up to doing one decade, and our father 10 hill marries and a glory bee, great. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:19:18 And then sometimes I tell people, even when you, when you can't pray, when you, when, when you are so lost, when you just, words can't come to you and you can concentrate, I say just hold the rosary in your hand. Treat it like a lifeline, you know, that you would throw from a, a boat mm-hmm. <affirmative> and just hold it and be, and be held. Let yourself be held by God. So just, just grab onto it and let yourself be held by, by God. That in itself is a prayer. And if you don't feel up to praying or you're not sure what to do, just hold onto it and say, say, I'm holding, I'm holding on, You know, would help me. Whatever. Yeah. Whatever you need to say.
Speaker 1 00:20:06 I honestly, I feel as if, uh, I know that, that the message is to the larger audience, your message there, but your message is also speaking very directly to me, because I always, as a priest and as a seminarian, I do. And I, I still, I did, and I still do have a great admiration for those who have strong devotions to our blessed mother. And I have to admit, mine is not as strong as it could or should be. So, you know, Monsignor McDonald had a great devotion to our, to the rosary and priests that I've met along the way, seminarians. And, and, and sometimes for me it is just holding the rosary. It's just keeping it in my pocket or holding it in my hand, or the little, the one that that kind of goes around like a ring, you know, the, with the 10, with the decade with, Right. That is the sense of, of, of support utilizing even YouTube, there are great YouTube videos of people praying the rosary with great meditative song behind it. And now actually, you know, I'm sure that your, your rosary, the rosaries that you've prayed with the high school students that are on net TV are probably also on YouTube,
Speaker 2 00:21:06 Or at least on the net website. I'm sure you can probably connect to On Demand. But Exactly. Even just listening, listen, same.
Speaker 1 00:21:14 Sometimes that's the assistance that, you know, that helps kind of you go along with, to help you to pray with it. So your message is spoken directly to me too. I appreciate it. <laugh>, Oh, this is not spiritual direction. This is Big City Catholics podcast. But, uh, but thank you for that, Bishop. You know, also, I just wanted to touch base on this, and this is a topic for a future podcast. You recently filmed with Desal Media and Net TV as, uh, response to the Senate. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Speaker 2 00:21:44 Yes. So that will air on Wednesday the 12th, actually, Wednesday the 12th is going to be a very busy night on net tv. We have the Senate presentation. We also have, um, the Monsignor Quinn, that was something Oh,
Speaker 1 00:21:59 Documentary.
Speaker 2 00:22:00 Yeah, the documentary on Monsignor Quinn. We had a chance to view that mm-hmm. <affirmative> during the convocation. And then there's something else, but the, these psis and centered things. So we're going to be posting next week our senate re, uh, report what we sent into New York States, New York states subsequently sent to the United States, and then each country sent in to Rome. It was a very tight calendar and a lot of work. And I thank our team here under the direction of, uh, Father Jino and Sister Marion, uh, Piccolo. We will be releasing our report, but also have a round table to discuss some of those findings. The thing, the themes that came up the most. And just like the Senate was not meant to be just an exercise and move on to the next thing. It was meant to be an ongoing conversation. So even these kinds of round tables hopefully will continue to have these conversations.
Speaker 2 00:22:53 CIN was a great experience for me because we were at the Diocese and VAs just as I arrived, and it got me mm-hmm. <affirmative> into each of the regions so I could interact, get to know people, but get to know them at a pretty substantial level. That's right. Yeah. So, um, yeah, across the board, meeting lots of people, that's overwhelming. But then to get some of the representative voices to say, these are the, the concerns. This is what life is like living in the big city of Brook's and Queens. That's, that's right. Yeah. You know, this is what life is like here and these are, these are our concerns. And each deanery had, there was some things that carried through all the deanaries and some things that were very particular in, in certain areas, you know, we'll, we'll share those findings. Obviously no report and no, uh, half hour program or, or hour, whatever will capture everything that was said. But it's, it's that ongoing conversation. We tried to put that together. So that's on Wednesday, On Wednesday evening. On Thursday evening, we'll be televising the mass of hope and healing. And, um, and we invite people to be with us either in person or on net tv. And then on Friday, we, um, have the Feast of the Rosary and we'll be, um, showing for the first time the Rosary Valley. So, uh, this is a very busy week at the sales media, and hopefully we'll be a very, um, encouraging week for anyone who wants to tune
Speaker 1 00:24:19 In. Yeah. Well, thank you, Bishop. This has been, we've covered a lot in this one podcast. We've gone from convocations to family life to, uh, hope and healing to the rosary to Senate. So we've covered a lot's, just a glimpse
Speaker 2 00:24:35 Again, isn't that October in the big city
Speaker 1 00:24:37 <laugh>? Exactly. Just a glimpse of everything that's on your plate. Again, this be a good opportunity to say, for that, we promise you our prayers to keep the strength and the zeal, the energy as you go through the daily tasks that, that you have as a, as the shepherd of this diocese. And finally, as the shepherd, if you would maybe lead us in prayer,
Speaker 2 00:25:02 In the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lord God, we thank you for your presence among us. We ask you to be close to those who are hurting this day, those in need of healing, all of us in need of healing at some level. We ask you to bring your healing, touch upon our wounded community and, and all those who have suffered from any kind of violence, any kind of abuse, any kind of disregard, we ask you, Lord, to fill us with your love, to make us those instruments of your peace. And we thank you, Lord, for the many different gifts that you have given us to come to know you better, to rejoice in your love and to be your witnesses in a world so in need of your presence. Mail Maddy, God bless you, The Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Speaker 1 00:26:05 Thank you, Bishop, for your time and for sharing with us again as we come together for our podcast, Big City Catholics, we ask you as listeners to please subscribe to our podcast and please share it with others so that our message can go out to all as we continue to evangelize and to come together each and every week. May God bless you.
