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 Henry. As we begin this podcast, we begin in prayer. I take a prayer from this jubilee of priests. During this jubilee year, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Father in heaven, May the faith you have given us in your son, Jesus Christ, our brother, and the flame of charity enkindled in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, reawaken in us the blessed hope for the coming of your kingdom. May your grace transform us into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the gospel. May those seeds transform from within both humanity and and the whole cosmos in the sure expectation of a new heaven and a new earth. When with the powers of evil vanquished, your glory will shine eternally. May the grace of the jubilee reawaken in us pilgrims of hope, a yearning for the treasures of heaven. May that same grace spread the joy and peace of our redeemer throughout the earth. To you, our God, eternally. Blessed be glory and praise forever. Amen. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. In the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Amen. Bishop I loved hearing the podcast last week with the students from Divine Wisdom Academy. I was a little nervous that I might be losing my job here, but what a great experience.
[00:01:38] Speaker A: It was a great experience. You know, I went there during Catholic Schools Week and heard about the podcast and there were two parts to it. It was members of the board, but also segment hosted by the students. And so this was their podcast and I was the guest, but we used it as a joint effort, so it was a really good experience. And two very gracious hosts, the kids, they were just fantastic. They had great questions. They had prepared ahead of time. They really prepared for the conversation. It was their last day of school before their graduation.
A few days before graduation, both of.
[00:02:11] Speaker B: The children going on to very successful high schools. One was going to Townsend Harris and the other one was going to Xavier. So great products of Catholic education being sent forth into even better further education. So it was really great to hear, Bishop, and great to listen into that. Bishop. You know, we were thinking Easter season had ended. I was a little bit like kind of melancholic after the Easter season had ended, Ascension Thursday and Pentecost Sunday. And then we were sort of entering into ordinary time, but it's nothing ordinary These days, we are so filled with feast days. We had the feast of the Holy Trinity, Corpus Christi, and now, you know, the regular.
[00:02:48] Speaker A: The month and date, the paper calendar kind of coincided with the liturgical paschal calendar, with the feasts that are set by the days of Easter. And so, yes, you know, we began the week with Corpus Christi. And many of our parishes had processions. They reported such great experience, good numbers of people. They were parishes that were working together, sometimes in deaneries, sometimes in partnerships. But it was a great expression of people showing their faith. So there were many processions. And thank God for the weather. You know, I was in St. Francis Desales that morning for Mass, and I had a joke, because my record there, every time I go to St Francis Desales, it rains.
[00:03:26] Speaker B: It was rain.
[00:03:28] Speaker A: And of course, there was no rain in the forecast on Sunday. And yet Sunday morning it rained.
And I told the people what the meteorologists didn't know is that I would be in Rockaway.
But you know what? It turned out to be a great day. And so by the time parishes were doing their processions, it was almost too.
[00:03:45] Speaker B: Hot for some, but it was a beautiful day for some.
[00:03:48] Speaker A: Beautiful day, beautiful experience. So the feast of the Body and blood of Christ. Building up the body and blood of Christ Building up the body of Christ right here in Brooklyn and Queens. So much work being done by great people.
[00:03:59] Speaker B: I really was inspired by your Sunday reflection, which you post every week on Facebook, the reflection of St. Augustine that we're to observe, look and imitate. And I thought that was really a good point.
[00:04:10] Speaker A: Point.
[00:04:10] Speaker B: When you're invited to a feast, and if the king invites you to a feast, remember to look, observe what you see, and then imitate. And that is what we do every time we come to the altar. It's the feast of the King that.
[00:04:22] Speaker A: Comes across every year during Holy Week in the Office of Readings. It's a great image. It really is. And that's what we do. And this year, the readings took us back to the mountainside where Jesus did the multiplication of the loaves and the fish. And there it is in that Gospel, Luke's telling of it, you have the Gospel in miniature. You have, Jesus went up the mountainside and he began to speak about the mysteries of the kingdom of God. He taught, he healed their illnesses and infirmities. And then he fed the crowd, but he fed the crowd with the gift of himself. In the end, as we would know later on, his body given up. So it brings. That connects us then with the paschal mystery so that those Few lines connect us with the whole of the Gospel, the whole of the paschal mystery, the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. So it's a very powerful image that we had this year for the feast of Corpus Christi. And yet that's connected. I'm going to jump out of order with the weekdays. That's connected with the end of the week. On Friday, we celebrate the solemn feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
[00:05:23] Speaker B: The day this podcast releases.
[00:05:25] Speaker A: The day this podcast releases. And that's designed the Friday after the Sunday celebrating Corpus Christi is always dedicated to the Sacred Heart. And this year, the Feast of the Sacred Heart takes place in the midst of another jubilee. It's the jubilee year, but it's the jubilee of the revelation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. But another image is given to us, the image of the good shepherd, Christ, the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep, who seeks the ones who are lost. So, yeah, we're really blessed. That's how the paschal season works. It's, you know, those are all determined by the date of Easter. They just fall in June. Back in the early 2000s, Pope now St. John Paul II, asked us to take this feast of the Sacred Heart and make it a special day of prayer for the sanctification of priests. And, boy, do we ever need those prayers. We all need the help and the mercy of God. And one of the things I've noticed, especially coming here to Brooklyn and Queens, it's amazing how many people are praying for their priests. I hear it all the time. There are some people who dedicate themselves wholly and entirely to prayer for priests. But many, many people are praying for our priests. They're looking for holy priests. They know that we're human priests. They know that we struggle with all the things that everybody else struggles with. You know, burdens can become heavy on our shoulders. The tempers can be short. Patience can wear thin. We can grow a little bit too introspective, all of us. But in the end, the priests here in Brooklyn and Queens, as in so many other places, are striving to be holy priest, to be generous priests. I'm struck by the goodness of our priest here, the simplicity of life, the generosity. And yet we all are aware that we need God's help and mercy. And so to know that people are praying for us, that buoys me. That gives me a little bit of strength and confidence.
[00:07:20] Speaker B: And as I come to the conclusion of my time here as rector of the CO Cathedral and presence on nettv and the television ministry. It's so evident, too, by those who are homebound, who correspond with handwritten notes how much they love the ministry of the televised Mass, but also the priests that come and celebrate it. And just knowing of their prayers and knowing of their support is definitely lifting.
[00:07:43] Speaker A: And to that end, it certainly is. It certainly is. And to that end, actually, this weekend is a special weekend for you. As everyone knows, you're going to begin a new ministry, a very important ministry up in Jackson Heights, up at St. Joan of Arc, but completing a very important ministry that you've served here. However, Friday, the day this lands and the day of the Sacred heart, is the 10th anniversary of your ordination.
[00:08:05] Speaker B: That's right, yeah. Well, we're celebrating. I mean, this is a great period of time. Just yesterday I was with dinner with another priest friend celebrating his 13th anniversary. I'm celebrating my 10th. This is the season of anniversaries. It's incredible to think how quickly 10 years have gone. And I look forward to the next decade and the decades that continue after that, to see the impact of priestly ministry and the role of serving as the people of God, but as an Altar Christus, as the person of Jesus Christ, it's humbling and it's really beautiful.
[00:08:34] Speaker A: I know there are a lot of people, myself included, are very grateful for your ministry, for your service and the way you lay down your life in that humble service. And then, of course, another thing that makes this year so special with the Sacred Heart, it falls within the jubilee of priests. That jubilee of priest is part of that whole experience of the Holy Year, the jubilee of hope. But this week, Pope Francis had designated a special week celebrating the jubilee. I guess he caught on to his predecessor, John Paul ii, these days of prayer, making that connection. And so in Rome, there's the jubilee of priest. We're celebrating the jubilee of priests by certainly celebrating these feast days. But we're going to have a special grace, a special blessing. On Saturday, we'll be ordaining seven new priests for service here in the Diocese of Brooklyn, for parishes in Brooklyn and Queens. What a great blessing that's going to be.
[00:09:26] Speaker B: Yeah, it's an incredible joy. The preparations. The choirs have been practicing, the servers have been practicing, and even the ordinance have come for their practice to make sure that the liturgy is spectacular and beautiful, but with great excitement, tangible excitement. And I know the priests and the pastors who will be receiving these newly ordained priests are super excited, excited as well, to have that burst of energy into their parishes and their ministries. We have to Keep praying for vocations. And seven is a lot. But as you've been mentioning yourself, next year we have one right, and we need to continue to.
[00:10:01] Speaker A: It works itself out as like an average of four year. And that's what's happening. We don't go with peaks and valleys. We stay steady. We remain committed, steadfast in our prayer for vocations. I have to say, Father Betsy and really all of the priests and many of the people of our diocese do a wonderful job of promoting vocations. I see it at confirmations, you know, where people from the parish, whether they're on the parish team or in and among the parishioners, they're promoting vocations. And they'll say, oh, this fellow's been thinking about it. And another thing I've noticed is that young fellows are a little more open to talking about it, to saying, yeah, I'm thinking about this. I'm sure you're thinking about it. And I'm not going to stop at priestly vocations, but even religious vocations. I'm aware of two religious vocations, two professions of first vows that will take place during the course of the summer. A fellow studying with the Jesuits will make his first profession in August, and a sister, and I'll come back to that later in the summer, but. And then a sister studying with Dominican sisters of Saint Cecilia in Nashville will be making her first profession. You hear me say it all the time. God is doing amazing things in Brooklyn and Queens.
[00:11:11] Speaker B: These are different from the other, because I remember about a year or two ago we were talking about other young ladies who were professing in the last.
[00:11:19] Speaker A: Three years as well. The gift keeps going on. People are responding from this diocese to religious orders, men and women. I think that needs to be celebrated.
And one of the things I'll say at confirmation is that these are people who sat in the very pews that these kids are sitting in. And these are young people and the fellows in our seminary, they're young people who are from very similar backgrounds as the young people who are stepping forward for confirmation and being formed in the Lord.
[00:11:48] Speaker B: And how nice it is for these seven men who will be ordained on Saturday, that their first Mass is going to be on another incredible feast, the solemnity of Peter and Paul.
[00:11:57] Speaker A: We go from feast to feast exactly. So it's not only that it's a beautiful feast. So now we get to the calendar. Feast June 29th is always the feast of St. Peter and Paul, and we're looking forward to celebrating that it's a great day. But there's something special about now when that falls on a Sunday for these new priests, they get to celebrate solemnity of St. Peter and Paul for their first Mass.
[00:12:18] Speaker B: Yeah, it's incredible. It's really beautiful for them. And St. Peter and Paul really stand as a reminder to us as faithful followers of Christ, of what it means to bear witness to Christ. You know, I'm always struck by when you're in Rome, at the Vatican and you walk into the St. Peter's Square and you have those two statues, one of St. Peter and one of Paul, Peter with holding the keys, Paul with the sword. And they're just there prominently as a reminder to us.
[00:12:45] Speaker A: And these are friends of Jesus Christ, individuals who were definitely flawed, good people, but they were flawed. Jesus saw the goodness and brought that out of them. He, Jesus overcame those flaws and they became the foundation, if you will, of the preaching of the gospel. Peter became the rock on whom Jesus built his church. Paul became the great preacher of the gospel. And you know, Paul was one out there persecuting the Christians basically out of self righteousness because he believed that he was right. He wasn't doing it just to be evil, he was doing it because he believed he was right. He was kind of caught in his own self righteousness. Peter didn't deny Jesus out of malice, but out of weakness. He had that firm desire. But the bond of friendship with Jesus is unbreakable. And Jesus keeps coming back. And with Jesus help, they become great, great witnesses.
And thank God. I mean, we rely on their teaching even today. Even today. And you know, speaking of witnesses, the day we're recording this, earlier in the week, we celebrated the solemnity of John the Baptist, another great witness to Christ. All three of them giving their life in witness to the Lord, in witness to the truth. And that's a great reminder and an encouragement to us because. Because we live in a world where the world needs to know Jesus Christ. The world needs to know his peace. The world needs to know his mercy, his joy.
The world is seeking it, and Jesus is extending that hand to friendship. And the world needs witnesses of Jesus Christ because it needs Jesus Christ.
[00:14:25] Speaker B: When we think of that important role of being a witness, especially a faithful witness in the public sphere, it is important that our voices be heard and that our faith, the message of the gospel be heard to a society that needs, it needs these reminders. About a few weeks ago, Bishop, we had Father Joe Zwasta on the podcast and we talked about the terrible legislation that was coming through and later did pass that particular hurdle of this Dying with Dignity act, which is less than dignified. Now, apparently it sits on Governor Kathy Hochul's desk. Is there any update on this?
[00:15:04] Speaker A: Bishop There is. It's not much of an update. It's basically as you say, sitting on her desk. Now there was some talk at the time that it passed the Senate that there is a 10 day window for her to sign it, but that's 10 days from when the bill is actually delivered. It's not quite on her desk right now. It remains in the chambers. You might say, okay. And you know, in legislative history, sometimes when something's a priority, it gets rushed right over some of the unfortunate legislation that was signed right here in New York State. They were priorities of the governor at the time. I don't know if this is signals that the governor is giving it thoughtful consideration or if it means that she just doesn't want to deal with it. Now I'm not going to try to read anybody's mind, but it could happen any day. It could happen months from now. So I guess the point is that continuing to make our voices heard is worth the effort, especially if she is giving it thoughtful consideration. I've said in videos and publicly that to her credit, she has been a strong voice fighting the crisis of suicide in our state. She's been a great advocate for those suffering with mental illness. This would be a grave contradiction to that.
So my hope is that, you know, I might prayer, I pray for her, pray that this might be a time of reflection and perhaps the voices of people who can point out the problems within the bill and the moral catastrophe of assisted suicide. The value and the dignity of life. I mean, we want to promote the value and dignity of every life. And she certainly needs to be encouraged on that because the record isn't that great at all. It's horrible. But my hope is that at least on this, some of her earlier positions are well grounded in that she'll do the heroic thing.
[00:16:54] Speaker B: So it's not yet over.
[00:16:55] Speaker A: It's not yet over.
[00:16:56] Speaker B: That is a great sign of hope for us as we pray.
[00:16:59] Speaker A: It's a sign of hope, but it's also a reminder that we can make a difference. So that's keep at it.
[00:17:04] Speaker B: Amen. I think we are flooded with blessings and graces these days and I think that that palpable joy and the graces of the Holy Spirit, the grace of God, is making an impact in our society, in our world and certainly in our diocese. Bishop perhaps as we come to a close, you could give us your final blessing.
[00:17:21] Speaker A: Sure.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Grant, we pray, almighty God, that we who glory in the heart of your beloved Son and recall the wonders of his love for us may be made worthy to receive an overflowing measure of grace from that fount of heavenly gifts, through Christ our Lord.
[00:17:43] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:17:44] Speaker A: And may Almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[00:17:49] Speaker B: Amen. Thank you, Bishop. We continue to pray for our priests, the men who will be ordained this weekend. You can join us on NetTV and watching that or on YouTube subsequently as we play that live and recorded. We hope that you'll join us again next week for a new edition. God bless.
