Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: Welcome back to another edition of our diocesan podcast, Big City Catholics, with Bishop Robert Brennan, the Diocesan Bishop of Brooklyn and Queens. Myself, Father Christopher Henry, currently the rector of the co Cathedral of St Joseph, St Teresa of Avila Parish. We're really grateful to be joined with the ordination class of 2024, four men who were ordained on June 1, 2024, the celebr first year. Happy anniversary to you men. We have Father Luis Marquez, Father Caetano, Father Toby, and Father Randy, all serving in different parts of the diocese of Brooklyn and Queens. We'll talk a little bit more with you about your parish assignments, but before we do, let's begin in prayer. A prayer for vocations to the priesthood. A prayer that is yours, Bishop Brennan, on our diocesan vocations. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
[00:00:57] Speaker C: Amen.
[00:00:58] Speaker B: Almighty God, we turn to you this hour with all our hearts. Hear our prayer 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 we may not harden our hearts, rather that we have the courage to respond with generosity. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
[00:01:32] Speaker D: Amen.
[00:01:33] Speaker E: Amen.
[00:01:33] Speaker B: In the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Amen. So, gentlemen, so good to have you on the podcast with us.
[00:01:38] Speaker D: Well, happy first anniversary to all of you.
[00:01:41] Speaker F: Thank you, Bishop.
[00:01:42] Speaker E: Thank you so much.
[00:01:43] Speaker D: Bishop, beginning of this month, you celebrated a full year. Tell me, how has the year been? Father Louis, go ahead.
[00:01:49] Speaker C: I am in resurrection, ascension, and our Larry of Angelos. And it had been a beautiful experience because people know that you are like a leader for them because they come for questions, for advice, then they trust in the priest. Then for me, it had been a beautiful experience to work here in both communities, English and Spanish.
[00:02:12] Speaker B: Father Randy, how has the year been for you?
[00:02:15] Speaker E: Well, my first year as a priest has been a humbling, joyful, and deeply spiritual journey. Every day brings something new, from celebrating Mass to baptizing babies, to walking with families through grief and in the funerals. I really have come to see how the priesthood places you at the center of people's lives in their most sacred moments.
[00:02:35] Speaker C: Nice.
[00:02:35] Speaker D: And Father Gaetano?
[00:02:37] Speaker F: Well, this first year is full of beautiful experiences. Like Randy was saying, in the vast experience that we have with the people, especially in confession, in the celebrating The Eucharist, praying, the Eucharistic prayer is being full of adventures.
[00:02:56] Speaker D: And Toby, tell me about your first year.
[00:02:59] Speaker A: My first year has been really beautiful. So I'm assigned to Sacred Heart Parish in Bayside and I also help out in Holy Cross High School and also in Lij Hospital.
You know, these encounters have given me different aspects of being with the people. You know, being with the very young, the youth in the high school, being with the sick in the hospital, and then being with my parishioners. You know, it has really been something that has enriched this, my very first year in the priesthood and given me a vision for the future.
[00:03:35] Speaker B: Now, fellas, I know that Father Randy, at St. Patrick's you have a school attached to the parish. How has that been for you? Working with the children? Are you visiting the classro classrooms?
[00:03:44] Speaker E: It's been a blessing to see the students at the school because every morning at 7:30, I'm at the front steps bringing the kids into the school and playing basketball with them at lunchtime and visiting in the school, just seeing how they're really curious about the faith and they're always asking questions because they want to learn more about God. And it's a very unique in the school that I am assigned to because we do the prayers as a whole school. And I, out of me or the pastor, Father Dao, we do the blessing in the middle of the prayer.
[00:04:13] Speaker D: That's great. Now, two others of you are in schools. Toby, you have a school at Sacred Heart in Bayside?
[00:04:19] Speaker A: Yeah. My experience here, the Sacred Heart Academy, has been beautiful because I teach the seventh graders. I teach them religion every Wednesday. And it's so amazing to know how inquisitive the children are, you know, and through my experience with them, I got to know that really the children are really open to truth. You know, they seek truth, and when you give it to them, they are willing to hold it. So it was something beautiful for me to come to experience just by being with the students, teaching them during their classes, and also just being with them. You know, one of the second graders once sent a message through my pastor to me and she said to my pastor, I want you to relate this to Father Toby, but the message is for the both of you, that the both of you are very good in priesting.
[00:05:15] Speaker D: Very good in priest.
[00:05:18] Speaker A: It's really something beautiful to hear second grader, you know, say that. It really shows how touched they are, you know, that we are really encountering them. And she lacked words to express it. And the word that came to her that was what she used. And, you know, it was received with a very big heart from me and Monsino. So it has really been a very beautiful encounter. Just even having the school attached to the parish and visiting them and being.
[00:05:46] Speaker D: With them, that is. Now, you mentioned the second grader, but you're involved at the other end over at Holy Cross High School.
[00:05:53] Speaker A: Yeah. So the Holy Cross experience has also been beautiful. So I began that on Ash Wednesday.
So that was my very first encounter with them. And since then, I've been also trying to know them, and they've been trying to know me, me, you know, I've also visited them in their classes just to tell them my story so that they could get to know me on a much more personal level, you know. And it's also beautiful to hear them ask questions, you know, they are wanting to know. And, you know, there was one question that was shown to me that I really appreciate. The students said, toby, what gives you joy as a priest? What gives you joy? You know, and for that student to ask such a question, there's something going on in his heart. He wants to know the secret of joy. He wants to know the secret of happiness. And here I am, you know, with him, to lead him to the true secret of happiness, to the true secret of joy, that is finding Christ, which I have come to embrace in myself through the sacred priesthood. And I could see their faces, how their faces were delighted with joy. And just hearing me being able to vocalize, you know, the secret of my joy. And I even lack where to express my, you know, my gratitude of being with these children, to hear their hearts and to speak to their hearts.
[00:07:17] Speaker D: Great. That's wonderful. Father Luis, in Resurrection, Ascension, we have a school as well.
[00:07:23] Speaker C: Yeah, they are very active, and a lot of them, they go help out for masses as ALTA servers.
Then it's a beautiful experience for me to see that they want to find Jesus in the Eucharist. Then I am very grateful to have experience with them, to work with them to find Jesus Christ. And I go often to the classes telling stories and everything about Jesus. Then it had been a beautiful blessing for me.
[00:07:52] Speaker D: I'm glad to hear that. That's great.
[00:07:54] Speaker C: Because I was a Spanish teacher in New Jersey. I always loved to teach kids. And then it's a beautiful experience for me to be in a parish with a school.
[00:08:05] Speaker D: Absolutely. Father Caetano, you know, you're in Presentation. We don't have a school in Presentation in Jamaica, but what we do have are some very active movements and especially among young people. So you yourself are part of the neocatacuminal Way, which is a powerful witness.
[00:08:22] Speaker F: But we also have 18 in total.
[00:08:25] Speaker D: 18 groups. Yeah, I know. The charismatic group.
[00:08:28] Speaker F: Yes, we do have. We have the charismatics and then we have the Legion of Mary, English and Spanish, Cursillo, Jornada, Couti's ministry. Everything is here is non stop. It's nonstop.
[00:08:40] Speaker D: We had a group from a presentation with us in Portugal, in Lisbon for the World Youth Day. I think there may be some coming from presentation for the Jubilee this summer. There's a lot of young people, so that must be life giving for you.
[00:08:53] Speaker F: Yes, with the young people here is a constant, no? We have scheduled many retreats coming up now with the author, servers with the Youth Ministry and stuff like that, because he's a constant formation with them. I don't have a school, but I can relate a lot with them because the youth are really thirsting, right. For a truth, for an answer. And I can relate totally with Toby with this of they expressing their hearts in their most sincere manner and being able to give an answer out of the gratitude that the Lord has put in my heart out of these years that he's been working with me, being merciful with me and being able to express this to them is a joy, is a beautiful joy.
[00:09:36] Speaker D: There's one group that really captures my attention. The Parking Ministry.
[00:09:40] Speaker F: The Parking Ministry. They are saints. They are saints because in presentation we have the 11 o' clock here pax a thousand people, the 1pm another 800, no.
So for the parking lot we have to fit 800,000 people is a major operation. The beautiful thing about this ministry is that it's people from every other group that join together in order to organize the parking. They do this with a lot of joy. In fact, we will have a celebration only with the Parking Ministry to thank them for the service they do and the gratitude they show.
[00:10:18] Speaker B: Is there a patron saint of the Parking Ministry?
[00:10:20] Speaker F: Listen, if one of them becomes a saint will be, you know.
[00:10:26] Speaker D: Well, maybe it's St. Jude, the impossible causes.
[00:10:29] Speaker F: That's a good idea.
[00:10:30] Speaker D: Actually, you know, we just celebrated recently the great feast of Pentecost. And we're always reminded of St. Paul's teaching, especially in the letter to the Corinthians of the many, many different gifts and many different services. When you get down to it, some of them are a little bit more artsy, kind of and up in the air, but some of them are just plain practical fact of the matter is all with the help of the Holy Spirit, God is working through each of us. And it's the pulling together all of those gifts, all the generosity that we build up church, especially for us right here, Brooklyn and Queens. So let me ask you something. Are there any surprises? Has anything really surprised you in this last year?
[00:11:12] Speaker F: Can I say something, Father Gaetano? Yeah, it's interesting. I was waiting for it, but when it came, it was surprising, you know, especially I think confessions are being the most surprising, you know, because in the seminary you always heard, know that the power of confession, that people really get help is a joy to be able to administer the sacrament and everything, etc. No, but I've heard some confessions that were 50 years without confessing. 15 years without confessing. No, there was 160.
And just to be seated there and be witness of what the Lord was doing through the minister that he called. Right.
That was. I mean, it's a marvel. You know, One thing that has been ringing in my head is like, once came out in one confession, I told someone, I'm a sinner, too. I'm honored that you come to me, you know, because to be witness of this is an honor, really to. I guess that's one part that I'm surprised.
[00:12:08] Speaker D: I think that's great. Yeah. That is.
[00:12:10] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:12:11] Speaker D: You know what? 36 years later, it still turns out to be a surprise. Sometimes it's like, oh, my goodness, what am I doing here? Right? What am I doing here? But the Lord is working on us and working through us in ways beyond our ability to understand. Father Toby, you have a thought?
[00:12:27] Speaker A: Yeah. One thing that has really surprised me, especially during my encounter in the hospital, was one experience that I had in the seminary. We are taught that the office of the priests is to teach, to govern and to sanctify. And when we look at each of these offices which we participate from that of the bishop, one thing that it comes out is it seems as if we are the ones ministering to God's people. We are governing, we are teaching, and we are sanctifying them. But my encounter with some patients in the hospital really also revealed to me that in the course of doing this work of a priest, now the priest is also sanctified. The priest is also ministered to. It was really something beautiful to come to realize that, you know, during my encounter with this patient, the patient lost her baby. And I was called in to come there and pray with them.
So I came in and here I am.
What should I say? What should I do?
But the mom is there, the dad is there, and I came in and I told Him, I'm sorry. And I prayed with them.
And the mom started saying something that really struck me deeply. The mom said, this baby has changed our life.
This baby has made us a new person.
And the dad picked up from there. And the dad said, right now I am thinking of establishing a non governmental organization to take care of women that pass through what my wife went through so that women will not undergo this pain that myself and my wife is going through.
When the husband said this, even myself, I, I was almost breaking down. I was almost, I was almost shedding tears because I looked at him directly and I said to him, you are still in your pain. You are still suffering from, from the child you just lost. And here you are thinking about the good you are going to do to the world. Here you are thinking about the good you are going to bring to others.
It made me to even think about myself in my pain. Do I think about the good that I will bring to others?
And that was the reason why I said, you know, they also minister to us when we go out there to minister to them.
We don't just give, but we also receive.
We receive abundantly from the grace that they pour out unto us. And it was surprising because in the office of the priest, it is not written there as in teaching, sanctifying and governing. But really in the course of doing those works of the priest, the priest also receives in return the graces of the Holy Spirit.
[00:15:22] Speaker D: That's amazing, Father Toby. I mean that. How poignant is that? And I think you hit the nail on the head. Probably one of the most surprising things is the heroic virtue, the heroic sacrifices and the faith that the people of God have and the way that they show it and the way they teach us is humbling. But it's also a moment of extraordinary grace that God is working among us through those experiences. It is true. You can't get over the amazing things sometimes that people have endured, but then the way they, that they teach us. Randy, were you going to say something?
[00:15:57] Speaker E: Yes, Bishop. One of the surprises for me in my priesthood as a one year is you never really know what to expect the next day. One of the things that really surprised me was people calling me at my parish who contact me from New Jersey or North Carolina, asking me to like anoint their mother or their sister in Queens or in like a far part of Brooklyn who I never met before. I end up anointing the mother and the sister, walking with them, and then end up doing the funeral mass at my parish, which was very tough. But walking with them in that faith. Yeah. So it is really a universal church, not just for Brooklyn and Queens, but I wouldn't imagine like walking with people outside of our diocese as well.
[00:16:40] Speaker D: Well, you know, the truth is everybody in the world has a connection to Brooklyn or Queens.
[00:16:46] Speaker E: Yes. Yes.
[00:16:47] Speaker D: Ronald Luis.
[00:16:48] Speaker C: One of the beautiful things that it happened for me is like to walk with people when they come for advice, for healing, and they open their hearts and tell me their sufferings, their bad situations, their problems. I cannot do anything for them, only to listen, give a word of hope. Then for them it's more than enough. Then I feel that they are happy after our meetings because they know that we are working with them. The priest is working with them in the suffering. And Jesus, of course.
[00:17:21] Speaker D: I'm going to ask you another question. I'm going to change the subject. Talk to me about Holy Week. How was the experience of Holy Week?
[00:17:28] Speaker C: It was so beautiful for me. I'm going to remember this Holy Week forever because it was my first Holy Week as a priest then. It was so beautiful. I had the opportunity to celebrate the Holy Thursday and wash the feet of the people then. It was so beautiful, I was shaking that night. It was beautiful.
[00:17:47] Speaker D: Wow, that is a profound moment. Father Randy, I see you nodding your head.
[00:17:50] Speaker E: I had the same experience as Father Luis Marquez. I had the Holy Thursday Mass as well. And then watching the feed and then just celebrating the Mass and Holy Week for the first time as the priest, because you're always assisting the priest or the deacon as a seminarian, but actually doing it for the first time as a priest, celebrating the Mass is a beautiful moment. And I like, just like Father Louis, I will remember that for the rest of my life as well.
[00:18:14] Speaker D: The night of the Last Supper. Father Toby Yeah.
[00:18:17] Speaker A: Myself, I celebrated the Good Friday liturgy. One of the high points also during the Holy Week was training the alto service, you know, to get to be able to participate during the Holy Week so that everything could go well. The ability to listen and take instructions and being able to perform, you know, people really were commending their participation in the Holy Week of liturgy, which I credit their listening ability.
But one thing also that struck me during the Good Friday was the veneration of the cross. Bringing in the cross, our cross, is so huge.
So you need to really have the strength to raise it up. You know, you think about it, you realize that Christ carried a much more heavier cross than this one that I'm carrying. You know, so it was something really beautiful.
And one thing also during the Holy Week that was so enriching was the exultet. I sang the Ezouted. And I sang it a year before because I was a deacon here in the parish. And after my priestly ordination I was also sent here. But I realized there was a difference between the Ezra that I sang the year before and the one I sang this year. The one I sang the year before, I was sweating profusely and sweat was even gushing into my eyes. And the one I sang this year washed better, which made me to understand that it gets better, you know.
[00:19:46] Speaker D: It.
[00:19:46] Speaker A: Gets better, you know, So I really thank God for the grace of the Holy Week.
[00:19:52] Speaker D: That's great. That really is great. And you're just getting started. Imagine where you're going to be in 50 years. Have a great time.
[00:20:00] Speaker F: Holy Week. I can echo everything they said, you know, the. Especially for me, highlights were the service of Good Friday, the Adoration of the Cross and the Servigio. We had before the service of the Adoration of the Cross, we had a live way of the crosses in the streets.
So the people from the group of the Jornada, they prepared it so well. We walked a lot, actually, no, four blocks to the left, four blocks to the right, like that. And there was someone acting Jesus, someone acting the soldiers, etc. Etc.
So after all of that, we did the Adoration of the Cross and it was super powerful. They're having some kind of a theatrical witness with, but. And then celebrating the thing that we just saw, somehow that was beautiful to be part of that also. I presided that one. And then the Easter vigil was beautiful. I also did sing the Exalted. I was sweating profusely, like Toby was saying. And I baptized 20 people.
Wow, that was a joy. That was a total joy. And we did the baptism by immersion. No.
[00:21:20] Speaker D: Oh boy.
[00:21:21] Speaker F: And there was one kid and he was afraid to enter the water, so he hugged me so I couldn't put him in the water. So I needed to go in the water with him.
Listen, I loved that baptism.
[00:21:35] Speaker D: One last question before we wrap up. Kind of quickly. Suppose if somebody would have come to you today or, you know, somebody had been coming to you and said that they were interested in being a priesthood, thinking about it, or wondering what advice or reaction like you have.
[00:21:54] Speaker A: Brother Toby, I will tell him great thoughts. It's a beautiful life that you want to get into.
I will encourage him to, you know, to go to the proper place, the vocation director, so that he can continue to descend his vocation. But my first thing I would say to him, your Thoughts are very good. Beautiful. I'm glad that you have such a thought, because the priesthood is a good life.
[00:22:17] Speaker D: Good, good. How about you, Father Gaetano?
[00:22:19] Speaker F: You don't know what you're missing. Absolutely. Go for it.
[00:22:25] Speaker C: There was a kid one day, he told me, he asked me, oh, I want to be a doctor. A doctor or a priest? And I told him, you can become a priest because you are going to be a doctor. He asked me why it's different. No, it's. It's the same. Because you are going to be doctor of souls. He was thinking about that. And you can help people.
[00:22:47] Speaker D: Yeah, well put. Father Randy, what advice would you give?
[00:22:50] Speaker E: I would say that the priest has a very beautiful life. Just don't be afraid. Continue to listen to the Lord in prayer to be open to that call, and God will give you the grace to live it. Because I encounter a lot of young people saying that God is not calling me yet. But I see them as a very devoted altar server in the sacristy, always, always volunteering their time in the church. And I told them, God is calling you. You just have to be open and say yes in that moment. That's a beautiful thing. So I just feel like a lot of young people that they really do love God. They really, I'm pretty sure, could be a very good future priest. But they're saying that God is not calling them. But I said, God is calling you right in that moment. Just have to be open to it. Say yes and don't be afraid.
[00:23:34] Speaker D: Don't be afraid. What a beautiful word of encouragement. Don't be afraid, Bishop.
[00:23:38] Speaker B: As we wrap the conversation up, it's such an exciting time that just in two weeks, on Saturday, June 28, we will celebrate the ordination of our seven men for the class of 2025. And we'll continue to pray for them as well as we come to this beautiful celebration for our diocese. Indeed.
[00:23:55] Speaker D: And in fact, we're really looking forward to that this year because one of the men will be ordained, studied in Rome, and they work on a different calendar. Our ordination is a little bit later than usual. It'll be on Saturday the 28th, but that turns out to be the weekend of the jubilee for priests and the day following the Sacred Heart. So we're in the month of the Sacred Heart. We're looking forward to ordinations around the feast of the Sacred Heart, the Immaculate Heart of Mary on Saturday, the day of the ordination, and then the feasts of St. Peter and Paul that Sunday. So it's a very powerful weekend. Perhaps we could close today's session with a prayer. The Offering to Sacred Heart in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. My loving Savior, consume my heart in that burning love with which your own heart is inflamed. Pour out upon me those graces which flow from your love. Let my heart be so united with yours that our wills may be one and that my will may in all things be conformed with your will.
May your will be the guide and rule of my desires and of my actions.
[00:25:14] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:25:15] Speaker D: May Almighty God bless you, one and all. The Father in the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[00:25:21] Speaker B: And as we wrap up, thanks to all those who continue to join us each and every week on our Jonathan podcast, Big City Catholics. We hope that you'll keep these men in your prayers, keep all priests in your prayers, and those discerning the vocation to the priesthood and religious life. God bless you and join us again next week.
