Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:10 Welcome back to another edition of Big City Catholics, the Diason Podcast with Bishop Robert Brennan, the Bishop of Brooklyn, and myself, Father Chris Heu, the erector of the Co Cathedral of St. Joseph. We're happy to have you back for another edition of our Dias and podcast, and we'll begin in prayer. In the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Asking our blessed mothers intercession upon us and our families, upon our diocese and all of our parishioners, we pray. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with the blessed art thou amongst women and blessed. It is the fruit of the I wom Jesus.
Speaker 2 00:00:45 Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinus now and at the Alga. Amen.
Speaker 1 00:00:50 In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Bishop, I feel very lonely here in this big city podcast room where you're not joining us in person today, but you're calling in.
Speaker 2 00:01:01 I am. I was feeling a little under the weather yesterday actually. I, it just as the date progressed, and as you can hear in my voice, still don't sound exactly right. So I said, the better part of valor is to lay low and to stay out of the way.
Speaker 1 00:01:13 Thank you, though for taking the time to do this, to be here on our podcast. I know. We, we really wanted to be able to get a chance to talk about an incredible event that we had this past weekend in our diocese where we took the diocese on the road to a beautiful pilgrimage to Washington DC to the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Bishop, if I may, you were just on fire. You, you could tell you were so excited that you, you were very joyful and, and your homily just illustrated that. What was going on in your mind when, when we were down there?
Speaker 2 00:01:50 Well, in terms of the day itself, it was, it's always exciting to be with our people. And so we had about 3000 people, about 55 buses. Unfortunately, one of the bus companies canceled a few buses, and so we had a few people who couldn't make it. Not for, not because of anything on their papa, but because the buses couldn't come. But those who were there, first of all, it's easy to catch on to their excitement. Many people are excited about making this pilgrimage, about being in a different place, about experiencing prayer in a new way, being together with other people. And I just enjoyed being with all of those people. As, as we're getting in on a year, I'm feeling more and more at home. So in each of the groups, there were a couple of, I would say I, I don't know how I can call them old friends, but familiar faces and friends from the parishes from when I visited. So it was nice to see some familiar faces, but also to meet some, um, wonderful new people. So that was the, the gist of the excitement. In terms of the homily, it was the, uh, Saturday was the memorial of St. John Paul ii, and so I just really recalled some of his words to us in Brooklyn and Queens, You know, when he made visits to New York over the years, he often made stops here in Brooklyn and Queens.
Speaker 1 00:03:05 Mm. It was just a beautiful opportunity for you that the investment that you wore was a gift that the Polish Postulate had just given you, uh, the week prior. Uh, so that was very nice that you were able to wear that and use that in investment with the image of St. John Paul on the front. And then your stories were, were wonderful. And I, if I may say, you took an opportunity to address the young people who are present at the pilgrimage, and I was also really shocked and edified by the amount of teenagers that I saw down at the pilgrimage. You'd think these kids, the buses were leaving at six in the morning or six 30 in the morning, you know, on a Saturday morning. It must have been very difficult to try to convince a group of kids to come down on a, a four hour bus trip to Washington dc but they were there and they were very energetic as well.
Speaker 1 00:03:54 There was an opportunity for a youth Holy Hour, uh, during the day. I, I believe you addressed the youth at that event as well, but in your homily, you, you asked them to stand up and you said, Your bishop loves you, and we are so proud of you. And I think your words to them were just really edifying and affirmative. And they received a few applauses <laugh> in the midst of your homily, because you can tell that that also echoes the, the sentiments of everyone who was there around them, that it's so good to see these young people there present with us and praying with us. And you can see their development and their relationship with Christ. So thank you Bishop for addressing them.
Speaker 2 00:04:37 Oh, I was glad to. You know, you're right. We had the rosary in the upper church in the Basilica for everybody, but then there was a youth event downstairs, a Holy Hour. And during the Holy Hour, I was out and about doing more pictures with different groups. So I only got there at the very, very end. But it was so edifying to see the young people there at prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. And then the words that I took, I was, uh, reading something from Pope St. John Paul II to the young people. He said, You know, the world kind of doesn't expect very much from young people, and yet your young people show them wrong all the time. Hmm. That there are young people who do have faith, young people who want to live good lives. And you know, when people ask me where I see hope in the church, I say, you know, while it's true that there are far too many young people not involved in the life of the church, those who are there are really, really involved and there are tremendously good young people, and they're going to have a positive impact in the world, even as they do right now.
Speaker 2 00:05:49 And so the Pope John Paul said, It's no wonder why the Pope loves you. And I just took that occasion to say, and you know, I speak for myself. Yes, your bishop loves you. And, and you know, people joined in on that because a lot of other people there experienced that pride in those who were down
Speaker 1 00:06:07 There. I thought it was a, a really great use of that opportunity for you to talk to them and make them feel welcomed. And a part of, of the celebration. I always say, and I've always heard it said, you know, the youth are the future of the church. Right. They're the future generations, et cetera. You know, that's an obvious statement. But I was talking with my youth minister here at the, at our parish, the co cathedral parish, and he said to me, which was, I thought, very eyeopening. He said, When talking to the youth groups, he once learned the hard way. You know, as they're talking about telling these young teenagers, You're the future of the church, you're the future. And they said, Well, well, if we're just the future of the church, then what are we now? And so he, now he says he changes it up and he tells his youth group that you are the present and the future of the church.
Speaker 1 00:06:53 You know that. Yeah. It gives them the, the chance to realize, No, no, you, we are, we need you now too. We're not just gonna wait for you to take leadership positions later and you're gonna be future generations later, but you are the present and the future of the church. So you are addressing them. Help them to realize they were well appreciated at that moment in this very time. And you mentioned as well that they were authentically joyful, that they were authentic witnesses to the gospel and to the message of Christ. And so I was really struck by it. I really thought it was a great message.
Speaker 2 00:07:28 Thank you. And then, you know, you look at everybody down there, you spoke about getting kids on a bus at six o'clock. The fact of the matter is for everybody who went, this is the idea of pilgrimage. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, there's a certain amount of sacrifice. Everybody got down there by making sacrifices, getting up early. Sometimes the bus trip isn't all that easy when you have 55 and then you add five, that four or five that didn't show 59, 50 or 60 buses originally planned, things are gonna happen. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> things are going to happen. And people make tremendous sacrifices to be able to do this, but they do it for the love of God. And that's the idea of pilgrimage. And that goes back to the ancient today, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you think of Canterbury tales, you think of some of the pilgrimages to the holy land over time, people make pilgrimage. It's a prayer involving the whole of the person to express their love for God.
Speaker 1 00:08:22 And they were, they were truly joy filled. You know, I, I had the opportunity to greet each bus and kind of jump on the bus and give the itinerary of the day, and just to be helpful to the different groups, let them know where they're gonna get their bus at the end of the day, all that. But there was a joy, uh, that was palpable in each bus when you entered it. Maybe it was, we're here <laugh>, you know, after, after this long journey, we're finally here. But I know then you got a chance to take photos with each group as they came up. And the Lord blessed us with beautiful day, beautiful weather. So yes, you're right, bishop. You know, things can happen, things do happen. Uh, but all in all, I think it was a, uh, a just an absolutely beautiful day.
Speaker 2 00:09:05 Absolutely. Absolutely. So the sacrifice is one part of it, but then the other part of the pilgrimage is it's an awful lot of hard work. Mm. So for the better part of the year, I have to say thank you to Christian Rader, who works in our family life office, and to Father Jabo and to Father Cox, uh, Father Lonzo Cox, because they did an awful, awful lot of work to prepare for this, to work out the details right up until the very end, taking phone calls on Friday night and moving things around. Um, again, it's not an easy undertaking. And and they did it and they did it, um, with a great sense of generosity and joy. So I, I'll always be grateful to all of them for pulling that together. The results showed everything. The liturgy was just beautiful. Interestingly, at the shrine in, in Washington, one of our priests, a Brooklyn priest, Father Vi Vito Bonano is responsible for pilgrimages. And so we had an inside scoop there,
Speaker 1 00:10:06 Right?
Speaker 2 00:10:06 <laugh>, Yes, we track, I should
Speaker 1 00:10:08 Say we did. We had a, we had a man on the inside. He gets so excited when Brooklyn comes on, on pilgrimage. You know, we're talking about all the different dioceses that, that do come for pilgrimage. And, and he greets each one, you know, at the beginning of their, of their time, of their day, you know, at the shrine. But he takes extra pride. He said, he, he said it at the am He said, I've been waiting three years to say this welcome Brooklyn. Uh, you know, he was jumping on each bus and saying, I'm one of you. I'm with you. I'm from Brooklyn too. And it's a little, it's special for him to welcome us to the shrine. You can tell it, it gives him great joy to welcome, uh, his diocese, uh, to the shrine. So it was, it all, it all worked out really beautifully.
Speaker 1 00:10:52 You know, the prayers of the faithful at the Mass, we do them in all the different languages. And I was asked to, if I could find someone, or if I could do the prayer in Gaelic, I wouldn't. I'm glad it's not recorded. I hope it's not recorded. Cuz I wouldn't wanna show my family in Ireland. My god knows what I said there. I hope I said something right. <laugh>. But I had my cousins in Ireland phonetically write out the, the, and, and to say it on voice messages to me, the prayer that I was supposed to read in gay. Like, but then you get up there and you're looking at this congregation of, you know, as you said, 3000 people. You said at the beginning of your homily, the church is filled to the brim. It was absolutely filled to the brim. And all of these writing it out phonetically, God knows, I I don't want to send the video clip to my cousins. They'll be, they'll be embarrassed, <laugh>.
Speaker 2 00:11:45 And that was a great moment where during the tour Faithful, we had the petitions done in each of the languages in which the, um, holy mass is celebrated every week. And it shows the great diversity that makes up the Diocese of Brooklyn here in Brooklyn and Queens. But more important than diversity is the unity in faith. It's one thing to talk about diversity, but that's just, that could be just a lot of people mixed up in one place. But here it is, It's people of many languages and cultures coming together to express the same true faith in Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection, which means life for all of us. To me, that's the amazing thing about this great diocese, that the whole world comes through here and we have many, many differences, but it's the one true faith. And on a day like Saturday where we had that pilgrimage, what an opportunity to express both the diversity and the unity. Mm,
Speaker 1 00:12:45 Absolutely. Absolutely. And as we continue through the, the rest of this month, we, we get closer to the feast days, the celebrities of All Saints Day and, and All Souls Day coming up in the beginning of November, November 1st and November 2nd. That's right. Those are two days, particularly when we recognize the community of believers. The communion of saints, which were diverse. The Hall of the Saints are diverse, and yet they all profess one faith in Christ. And then, and as we reflect on the departed souls as a parish, as a pastor of a parish, I, I always invite particularly anybody who had a funeral from the parish over the course of the last year. But of course, everybody else is always welcome. But particularly those who have died within the last year, their families. And you'll always see, you know, when the, the pews fill up of the different families that we had buried over the course of the last year. You see it there too, the diversity of those families. Yet they're all united in prayer for their own individual intentions, for their individual loved one that has passed. And so we, we are coming up to these two days, Bishop, do you wanna say a few words on All Saints Day, which is a, a holy day of obligation this year as it falls on a Tuesday.
Speaker 2 00:14:03 So That's right. It is a holy day of obligation. So our parishes will offer extra masses so that it's convenient for people to attend mass. You know, if they can get to an evening mass or an early morning mass, it may take some hunting because one parish may offer an evening mass and another may offer an early morning. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But they're all out there. But yet All Saints Day is a great, great day because it's really all about us. We proclaim the death and resurrection of Jesus, but his death and resurrection means life for all of us. And so we celebrate all those men and women who are in heaven with God sharing eternal life with him. And to quote the, uh, second meeting from this past week, they've competed well, they ran the race, they did their best with the help and the mercy of God.
Speaker 2 00:14:51 They, and they, um, now were married in crown awaits for them in heaven. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I always say the saints on not the collection of the perfect. These are not perfect people. And we all know we can read the lives of the saints and even in the better part of their life. So, you know, you have some saints to, like Saint Augusta went through a conversion, but you have other saints that even in like, when they were great missionaries, I'll take St. Paul, Paul let his temper get the better of him. Sometimes you read that in his letters, you know, these were not perfect people. However, they were doing the best that they could and they knew that they needed to rely on the help and mercy of God. And that's our assurance into heaven, to help mercy of God. We, we, if you know, again, going back to last week, it's not sitting in the front of the temple, counting off all of our perfections,
Speaker 1 00:15:38 <laugh>, <laugh>.
Speaker 2 00:15:39 It's recognizing again, meaning while I'm doing the best I can, but I know, Lord, I need your help in mercy. And God will give it and God will give it. So we, we, you know, we had to be sincere in our prayer and really want to try and really try, but in the end, it's about doing the best that we can with what we have. You know, on All Saints state, there's that vision from the Book of Revelation, who are these all dressed in white and the vision says, you know it, these are the ones that have survived the trials and washed their robes in the blood of the lamb. They've survived the trials and tribulations of life, but they did so with the help and mercy of God. Yeah. That's what Saint Sanity's about.
Speaker 1 00:16:26 That's right. That's right. I often like to use a story that I heard once of a, a class comes to the church and the teacher is describing the church building to them. The stained glass windows are there and the sun is shining beautifully. The teacher says, you know, who are the saints? Who are the saints? What are saints? You know, one of the young children in the class, he points up at the stained glass window and okay, yeah, but what does that, you know, yes, those are saints. And the young boy says, No, the saints are the ones that the light shines through. What a beautiful image to think, you know, that is the, the saints are the ones that allow the sun, the light to shine through them, to bring that light of Christ to the world. Uh, as you said, they're not perfect people, but they're the ones who are striving to do that.
Speaker 1 00:17:13 Right. And for each of us, it's a great opportunity, a great reminder for our own, again, that universal call to holiness, that call to be saints. You know, All Saints Day is a great day in the church, but for me, I often find All Souls Day to be, Maybe it's the Irish in me, I don't know, <laugh>, It's, I find it to be, uh, a little more, more prayerful and more touching, especially as I recall those whom I've buried, those whom I pray for, who, who are no longer with us in this earthly existence and families to come together. And, you know, here at the Co Cathedral Parish, it's been a tradition prior to my arrival, but people come and they bring photos of their loved one and we place them at the altar of our blessed mother. And you can tell just how important that is for people to feel this, this spiritual connection with the saints, with our blessed mother at Mass, where they can feel that sense of consolation that their loved ones are in peace. They miss them, they miss them from their earthly existence, but that they are, we pray in the peace of heaven.
Speaker 2 00:18:22 And we have some beautiful, beautiful traditions, <inaudible> souls. They just like what you mentioned with the photos, some people do things with candles, some parishes have a book, you know, of, of the Dead where people inscribe the names of their loved ones. We have, um, the masses of All Souls Day. There's some beautiful, beautiful traditions. And it, it, it, it is interesting Liturgically, it's kind of a gay where everything stops, whatever else is going on. You know, you focus in on these prayers for the dead. Mm. Another another great, great tradition on wholesale state would be the masses at the cemeteries. And I remember those from years when I was in Rockville Center. And I, I know we have a great tradition here, and I'm looking forward, I'll be going to St. Charles Cemetery, which interestingly enough, it is on about seven or eight limits from where I grew up. Mm. And it is the cemetery where my grandfather is buried. My grandmother, I have an aunt buried there. I tell people, my parents what family property up that way at St. Johns <laugh>. So, you know, so, uh, you know, cousins, you know, so, um, so this is, this would be special to go back. I've always gone to different cemeteries when I was in the parish, diocese and wine. And now I'll be going to the real cemetery that has a lot of personal connections.
Speaker 1 00:19:51 Well, Bishop, I think that's gonna be for you, a a a real blessing to be able to offer that mass there, especially as you have your personal connections to that cemetery. I'm will your family, your parents be able to join you for mass?
Speaker 2 00:20:04 Hopefully they
Speaker 1 00:20:05 Will. That's great. That's great. I,
Speaker 2 00:20:07 You know, health and all allows that if they can get out, they will, but it's certainly close to home, so it's, so hopefully they'll be
Speaker 1 00:20:14 There. That's great. That's great. Well, Bishop, I hope that you get well soon. Please, God, we need you back at a hundred percent. You've got a lot on the plate that your calendar doesn't stop. Please rest. And we hope for speedy recovery. Perhaps we'll end with a closing prayer. Bishop, if you'd like to give us your, your final blessing
Speaker 2 00:20:31 Sure. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May upon you with kindness and grant you peace. And may the blessing of whom I be God, the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, this end upon you and your families. I remain with you forever, Endeavor.
Speaker 1 00:20:44 Amen. Amen. Thank you, Bishop. God bless you all, and thanks for participating and listening into another edition of Big City Catholics, our DAAs and Podcast. We'll see you again next week.
