Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
Welcome to a new edition of our diocesan podcast, Big City Catholics, with Bishop Robert Brennan, the Diocesan Bishop of Brooklyn and Queens, and myself, Father Christopher Henyu. On this third week of Advent, this joy filled week, as we near the close of this beautiful blessed season, we join in prayer to start this podcast. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen. Taking the words from the beautiful psalm, the beautiful song that we sing during Advent. O come, O come, Emmanuel, ransom, captive Israel that mourns in lowly exile here until the Son of God appear. O come, O wisdom from on high, who ordered all things mightily to us the path of knowledge show and teach us in its ways to go. O come, oh come, great Lord of might, who in your tribes on Sinai's height in ancient times did give the law in cloud and majesty and awe. Rejoice, Emmanuel, shall come to you, O Israel, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Bishop, you know, this season of Advent, as we know, is such a time of preparation, and the themes are always the same. Each week we have the theme of hope, of peace, of joy, love, but there's also the theme of darkness and the light that shines in the darkness. And we want to start the podcast, I guess, you know, just talking a little bit about the realities of the darkness.
[00:01:33] Speaker B: This has been a very sobering week. We're recording at the beginning of the week, so I'm not even sure how things are unfolding as we talk. There are still certain events that are unfolding before us, but what a terrible weekend in terms of violence in the world and in our own nation.
[00:01:50] Speaker A: We woke up on Sunday morning to, you know, our Twitter feeds and our news reports of. You couldn't imagine that it all happened within the same weekend. Just terrible acts of violence. First, of course, the. In our own nation at Brown University.
[00:02:05] Speaker B: Yeah, you know, they think of young people and we've all been there. We know the emotions, some of us a little more recently than others. For me, it's been a little while. But that whole experience of finals when you're really trying to get it all in, get all your papers done, and there's a certain excitement at the end of the semester, but a certain apprehension. There's a group of students trying to study together, review a little together, working with somebody, you know, innocent enough and doing good things.
And in the midst of it is this terrible violence. Somebody comes in and just starts shooting up.
[00:02:38] Speaker A: It's.
[00:02:39] Speaker B: It's unimaginable, unimaginable, unimaginable.
[00:02:41] Speaker A: And as you and I were mentioning before the beginning of this podcast, just that a whole generation that just sort of grows up in. In this sense of violence.
[00:02:52] Speaker B: Well, you know, it's kind of moot now. But, you know, I was driving home, I had a commitment out on the island, and I was working my way back into Brooklyn, trying to beat the snow. And I'm listening to the news along the way, keeping my ears open about any updates on the weather. And I'm thinking, this is the big story. And the news counts. Were recalling that it was the 13th anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting up in Newtown, Connecticut. It was a gruesome thing. And that was 13 years ago. And I remember it so vividly because I had just moved in to Lynbrook and I remember heading over to Mass and being really. I had a family Mass and thinking, what do you say to families, to young people on a day like this? What a tragedy. That wasn't for so many people. And of course, it still haunts so many families and a community. And then I got to thinking that later on when we heard the news of this Brown shooting. This is a generation that's grown up with the reality of violence. You know, imagine this was kids in kindergarten, first grade, six or seven years old. Thirteen years later, they're the generation that's in college. So their whole lens of elementary and high school was colored by this experience of active shooter training and the reality of violence in schools. That's a real sad commentary. And we can think of all the different things that have happened along the way, and there are so many competing and different realities here. There's the reality of gun violence, and that's a deep concern, but there's also the reality of the enforcement of the gun laws. There's the reality of mental illness. And, you know, at the time we're recording this, we really don't know who's behind it, but it's a tragedy no matter what.
[00:04:41] Speaker A: In Bondi beach in Sydney, Australia, at the beginning of Hanukkah, incredibly anti Semitic attack. And then we find more information about this father and son duo that perpetrated this attack. Just incredibly chaotic to see the footage of people, poor families just running for cover, fleeing the beach, just hearing those echoes of gunshots sounding out from a distance. Yeah, you couldn't believe waking up Sunday morning to both of these atrocious attacks on different sides of the world, but a reality that it's not just a United States political talking point. This is around the world of mental health, of enforcement of particular laws. And it's just a sadness and it's the darkness that we start this conversation with.
[00:05:33] Speaker B: And, you know, it's not limited to these calamitous kinds of events of great number. You know, every day in our city, you know, somebody sent me something about a week or so ago, we actually went through a 12 day period where there was no murder in New York, which is pretty good. On the other hand, it's pretty sad that that's such an achievement to go 12 days without a murder. I mean, again, we see violence in our own streets and all around us. And then the other thing is every one of us, we all have our own burdens, we all have our own disappointments, our own concerns. And so we, we have to recognize that we do live in a world that's filled with darkness and so has every age before us. We need to be, as Christians, agents of the light. We need to encourage each other. Last week at Mass, we had that encounter where some of the disciples of John the Baptist go to Jesus to say, are you really the Messiah? Even John the Baptist needed a little bit of reassurance. But Jesus's answer was pretty interesting. He said, well, look around you, you know, and see the, the things that are happening. See how the kingdom of God is breaking into the midst.
[00:06:44] Speaker A: Yeah, Bishop, as you mentioned, you know, these are, there's also local experiences of darkness of the cross that we each individually carry.
And we see, as you mentioned, I mean, the violence, the lack of violence for just a brief period of time, which was newsworthy, but a reality of the sadness that does exist, that there are days when multiple people are killed in our own city and we see the crosses and the darkness of, of those who struggle with their own situations and their own. As immigrants into this country, we see families that, that are struggling and those that are sadly at times terrorized by the fears that they experience or whether they be rational or irrational.
[00:07:33] Speaker B: But there are. And actually they are, they are irrational in a certain sense. And that's where I think we need to be strong and encouraging each other. We're coming to the end of this pilgrimage of hope.
And I thought it was very interesting. Pope Francis, when he gave us the theme, he didn't say it's a year of hope.
He said, we are pilgrims of hope.
And I think there's an important message in that, that while we're walking this journey of life, we're people of hope ourselves, and we need to have our own hope renewed.
But the other thing is that we're also pilgrims. We need to be pilgrims, walk with each other, and we need to encourage each other along the way. We need to give people a sense of hope and to point in the direction of that hope. I love the reading that we had last Sunday from the prophet Isaiah. He was writing to people in dark times, in difficulty. And what does he say?
He says, strengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak. Say to those whose hearts are frightened, be strong, fear not.
Here is your God.
He comes with vindication, with divine recompense. He comes to save you. That's what Advent's all about, isn't it? It's the acknowledgment that there is darkness in the world. It's the reality that this existence of ours is finite and that we are longing for this fullness of God's kingdom, for the second coming of Christ, for the eternal life of heaven. But we're walking this pilgrimage, doing the best that we can along the way, enjoying the gifts and the blessings that God gives to us along the way.
[00:09:23] Speaker A: And you often say we as Catholics don't wear rose colored glasses. You know, it's not this, this idea of being realistic realists of the realities that exist around us and yet remaining strong and steadfast in that hope. And that's where the light breaks through, right? That's where that light shines in.
[00:09:43] Speaker B: Exactly, because that's. And that's a good image. Because being realistic means being really realistic. It's not just saying, okay, yeah, there's the darkness, but it's looking even deeper to see the hand of God, to see, you know, John the Baptist, last week, you know, he was proclaiming Christ. But even at the end, he needed a little bit of assurance. He said, please, Jesus, just tell me you are the one, right?
You're the one that we've been talking and waiting for. You're the one that we've been waiting for. But it takes that. We have to look deeply, look deeply, honestly at the darkness, but beyond the darkness to see that light breaking through. As you say, beautifully put and perhaps.
[00:10:19] Speaker A: Bishop, now we take the positives of what's going on and the light that's shining, that we can see that tangible light so as to not be bogged down by the darkness. You know, last Friday when this podcast was released, December 12, the church celebrated the feast of Our lady of Guadalupe. And I think there's a. Both, literally the light, there's a torch that the torch bearers carry. But just the, just the experience each and every year is a brightness it shines the brightness of God in the CO Cathedral and in the diocese. And I'm sure as the shepherd of this local church, it's a brightening experience for you.
[00:11:00] Speaker B: It is absolutely a brightening experience to see the CO Cathedral full. And when we say full, you know, the CO Cathedral, well, you were rector there, you know that it seats a great number. But then the undercroft was filled and the choir loft, people were all over. And it's a young movement. There were young families there, there were young adults there, there were teens there. It was a powerful expression. And that's only a fraction of what was happening on that day because those are the people, in a sense, sent by their parishes to the Mass.
And then they were carrying the torches that you mentioned, bringing them back to their parishes so that the parish could celebrate. So what we saw at the Coke Cathedral, so many of our parishes saw.
[00:11:44] Speaker A: Again that very night, simply, it's like a representation of every parish. And like you said, you know, St. Joan of Arc parish, we had about 30 runners, corredores and I joined them for a good portion of that run. And when we arrived to St. Joan of Arc, we were greeted by 400 other people that were prepared to celebrate that bath. So the 30 plus 450 or so is just a fraction. And that happened in every parish, which is such an awesome thing. And I will say, Bishop, I was just thinking, you know, there's a beautiful prayer, the consecration to St. Joseph by Father Calloway. And I just mentioned this because of the theme of happening at the CO Cathedral, but the theme of this walking, this running Father Calloway speaks about, was Joseph an old man or a young man? And he says, an old man doesn't walk to Egypt, you know.
[00:12:34] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, when you think about Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem, from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, from Jerusalem to Egypt, I mean, you know, he crossed national boundaries on foot.
[00:12:47] Speaker A: Absolutely. And you had to be young. And this group that comes to the GO Cathedral for this beautiful feast, for this beautiful event, there's some young, young families, there's some few older folks, but you can't be.
You have to be somewhat youthful and young to be able to do it. And Monsignor hoppy walked it, 73 years old, our retired pastor emeritus here at St. George, you know, so it's beautiful.
[00:13:10] Speaker B: For you it was a different experience because you used to walk from the Cathedral to St. Teresa of Avalon.
I guess it's a very different experience.
[00:13:18] Speaker A: Going up to Jackson Heights seven miles later. Yeah, but it was beautiful and it Certainly is just an exciting, exciting time. And they keep that energy and they keep that light and that idea of the light shining at night. You know, the sun sets and we had the 1:30 mass, and by 5:00 clock it's dark and you're walking and that torch is still burning brightly in the streets.
[00:13:43] Speaker B: So it was more than a symbol. It was a literal light in the darkness.
[00:13:47] Speaker A: That's right. That's right, Bishop, other great things happening in Advent?
[00:13:50] Speaker B: Oh, yes. You know, earlier in Advent, at the beginning of Advent, the Haitian apostolate, not only from Brooklyn, but really throughout at least the Eastern Seaboard, gathered at the Basilica Shrine of the Immaculate conception in Washington, D.C. and they had as almost as many pilgrims as we did for our diocesan one. I say that with a bit of pride. Monsignor Vito Bonanno made that observation to me, that with that Brooklyn pride. But it was again a full basilica with people of, of Haitian descent and Haitian immigrants all gathered to celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, to celebrate their love of Mary. It was such an uplifting. They were there for a couple of days. I was with them on Saturday, 6th December, and it was just a beautiful, beautiful experience. And like our own diocesan pilgrimage, during the day, they participated in confessions, they were novenas and prayers. It was a holy hour. All kinds of pilgrimage activities, you say. And there, too, another experience of hope. And, you know, like with the Haitian people, there's a great concern about the immigration because a lot of them were here for many years legitimately on the temporary protective status, and that's set to run out in February. And we're hoping that there's going to be a solution there. So again, light in the darkness, we will not lose hope. And this is a group of people, you know, both the people who gathered that day, the people, the Haitians, we're not going to let anybody take the hope that is ours. And that hope, of course, comes from Jesus Christ. And there's still more to come. This Advent season is filled with all kinds of customs, of experiences. I had some family time earlier last week, which was a great blessing. You know, many of our preparations for Christmas, we've spoken about this in the podcast before. I'm happy with all the different Christmas celebrations that take place in Advent, because it is. These are simple expressions of joy and hope, hope in this season of recognizing the reality that we are in an imperfect world. But we're not going to be taken down. We're not going to let our hope be taken from us. We had a wonderful Celebration at Mooses on the Bay. Really, it was a fundraiser for the Futures in Education.
Terrific turnout of people celebrating the joy of the season of Advent leading us to Christmas. We had met Mark, came back to the cathedral. We had that you arranged for that last year, and he came back again this year, and we were thrilled to be able to celebrate again. Light in the darkness. I'm looking forward next week to the Filipino celebration, the Novena in preparation for Christmas. They're just all around us, different groups of people, Catholic people, celebrating their Catholic faith and letting that Catholic faith be the hope in the darkness. If you don't mind me going back to the darkness for a minute, that was one of the real ironies of that attack in Sydney, Australia, because, you know, the feast of Hanukkah is also a feast of light shining in the darkness. And there, too, you had people there, even though, you know, still with the memories of October 7th and Israel Fresh on the mind with the scourge of antisemitism around the world. And we experience it in our own city, and people gathered there to defy the darkness, to celebrate that feast of light. The celebration of Hanukkah in the Jewish calendar represents the way that the Maccabees, the Maccabee family, wouldn't give in, wouldn't compromise their faith, and they suffered terribly for it, but they, you know, there was that miracle of the light that kept burning the candles. And so it's a similar kind of an expression. And it's ironic that that's where that would attack, would take place. But you know what? Again, people around the world, in our own city, gathered anyway for Hanukkah, not because we're jumping for joy over the bad things that had happened, but it's like we're going to defy the darkness. We're not going to let the darkness.
[00:17:49] Speaker A: Overwhelm us or anyone, take our hope away, as you're hopefully correct, and even.
[00:17:53] Speaker B: Our own Christmas celebrations. We've spoken about this, too, on the podcast. The lighting up of houses, the Christmas decorations. In the darkest part of the year, we're defying the darkness. And that's what we're going to do. And of course, that comes to its peak in the coming days as we get into these late days of Advent. We're celebrating right now focusing on the nearness of Christ, remembering the stories, the gospels, passages that tell us of his impending Nativity, and then celebrating next week, the Nativity of the Lord. That's when we really celebrate the light that shines in the darkness. And that light is Jesus himself.
[00:18:36] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:18:37] Speaker B: All these other things that are signs of light point in the direction of the one true light, the hope that will not disappoint Jesus Christ.
[00:18:45] Speaker A: Amen. Amen. That's a beautiful way, I think, Bishop, to bring this podcast to a close and to allow us to wish our listeners a very blessed rest of this season and a blessed Christmas and New year, as we know as we've done in years past. Next week's podcast, which will Release on Friday, December 26, will be your Christmas message, your Christmas homily preached at the Co Cathedral of St Joseph at midnight Mass. And the following week will be the close of the Jubilee year, the Feast of the Holy Family. Again, your homily for our podcast. And so we get a little bit of a break ourselves from these recordings. I certainly wish our listeners a very blessed season and a happy Christmas.
[00:19:26] Speaker B: And as we come to this end of the year, a special word of thanks to Connor and to all the folks at DeSales who work so hard to get these podcasts ready for recording and for playback. We are very, very grateful to everyone and wish everybody very blessed Christmas and many blessings in the year to come.
[00:19:45] Speaker A: Thank you, Bishop. Bishop, perhaps you could give us your blessing. Sure.
[00:19:49] Speaker B: Loving Mother of the Redeemer, gate of heaven, star of the sea, assist your people who have fallen, yet strive to rise again to the wonderment of nature. You bore your creator, yet remained a virgin after, as before, you who received Gabriel's joyful greeting, have pity on us poor sinners. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[00:20:08] Speaker A: Amen. Thank you, Bishop, and thanks to all. God bless you, and we hope that you'll join us again next week.
