Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
Hello and welcome to this week's edition of Big City Catholics. I'm Bishop Robert Brennan, Bishop of Brooklyn, serving in Brooklyn and Queens. And today I have as my co host my priest secretary, Father John Huang. Father John and I have been working very closely for the last year and it kind of ties in very neatly with our conversations today about Pope Leo. So Father John, thank you for joining me.
[00:00:34] Speaker B: Hello, Bishop. Hi everyone, it's Father John. It's my pleasure and honor to co host the Big City Catholic.
[00:00:42] Speaker A: We usually begin in prayer and as co host, I'd ask you if you'd lead us.
[00:00:45] Speaker B: Sure. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Loving and gracious God, we thank you for bringing us together today as one church family.
We thank you for the gift of Catholic education that forms the minds and hearts of our young people.
We ask your blessing upon all our students, especially those who are graduating this season.
Guide them as they take your next steps and remind them always that you walk with them wherever they go. We pray in a special way for Pope Leo xiv.
Strengthen him as he leads the church with a message of peace, hope and love, and inspire us to be instruments of that peace in our own lives. We also lift up to you all families, educators and benefactors who support our Catholic schools. We place this time, this conversation and all who are listening into the loving care of Mary, our mother, as we begin this month dedicated to her. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. In the name of the Father and
[00:01:51] Speaker A: the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Well, thank you for that prayer and what a great lead and you focus in on Catholic education. We've been celebrating Catholic education a lot the past week, haven't we?
[00:02:02] Speaker B: Yes, we've been celebrating with our students, especially with the graduation mass and the Futures Dinner.
[00:02:09] Speaker A: Futures Dinner. So yes, last week, on Tuesday, we were at Cipriani's for the Futures Dinner. We had well over 800 people who were there, all believers in Catholic education. Wasn't that an inspiring evening?
[00:02:21] Speaker B: Yeah, there was really exciting. I was there last year as a pastor, but this year I came with you.
[00:02:29] Speaker A: That's right, that's right. And there's always something of a great story. Usually parents tell a story, give a witness of how Futures has helped them. This year we had a young student. Wasn't she impressive?
[00:02:39] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, beautiful. I mean all the witnesses, I enjoy them. And particularly I enjoyed the show.
The children's from Sacred Heart and Church in Bayside.
[00:02:51] Speaker A: Right. So they did. They did a piece from Godspell, I believe. Yes. And. And that brought back a lot of memories, and they did it well. But one of the young ladies in that group saying, start Spankled Banner. Wow. Yeah. She hit all the right notes. That was impressive.
[00:03:08] Speaker B: Impressive.
[00:03:09] Speaker A: Yeah. So. So that was good. We had a new, younger generation of poetry participants, people stepping up to support our Catholic schools. We had a few people from the next generation in terms of social media and social media influencers and all of that. It was a celebration of the church in New York City, but for us, particularly in Brooklyn and Queens. So. And we're grateful. We're grateful for all the people who've been supporting for years and years and years. And those were coming along. It was a great celebration. But. But then, as you mentioned, we got right back to the schools and we had the 8th grade graduation mass back during Lent. We had the high school graduation Mass, and that was a long dream of mine. I had always hoped we could do something for the high school graduation. And when I presented the idea here in Brooklyn and Queens, they said, bishop, we can do you one better. Let's do the high school graduations and let's do the eighth grade graduations. And that's great. I can't get to all the graduations. You know what our schedule is like.
I'm not even getting to all the confirmations. We count on all of the bishops who pitch in in a very generous way. But this is my chance to be with the 8th graders. And we split it into two in the last couple of years because there are so many of them. Those young people are impressive, aren't they?
[00:04:26] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. What strikes me most is the sense the whole church gather together, students from different schools and neighborhoods in the cathedral. They become one community.
You can really feel the joy and proud families and teachers and students all thanking God.
[00:04:45] Speaker A: You can sense their exuberance as they're coming in. They're full of energy after having been on a bus for however long it took them to get there on a bus. But there's something that happens when they get into the cathedral, when they sit down to pray when Mass begins. They know what to do at Mass, and they pray so beautifully. That's been the case every single year. It tells me that something is going on.
Well, in our schools.
[00:05:11] Speaker B: I bet as some academies for students, it's their first time they've been there, so celebrating graduation means something for them, especially that moment.
[00:05:23] Speaker A: You know, that's a good point. That's a very good point. I. You know, in eighth grade, I would not have been to the Cathedral of St Agnes, I don't think, when I was in Rockwell, Santa. So you're exactly right. It gives them that sense of our unity, which we are. I always say welcome home, because when you're in the cathedral or the co. Cathedral, you're at home because it's the spiritual home for all the Catholics.
Now, today's episode of Big City Catholics will Release on Friday, May 8th, and we'll be in the midst of the second of the two graduation Masses. But it also happens to fall on a very auspicious day in the life of the church this year.
[00:06:03] Speaker B: Yes. Pope Leo XIV election.
[00:06:07] Speaker A: He was elected a year ago on May 8th. I remember last year, the day of the graduation Mass was the day after he was elected. So there was an excitement in it. But, yeah, that's his. It's a year anniversary. Boy, what a. What a quick year, huh?
[00:06:19] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:06:20] Speaker A: I'm remembering doing a lot of remembering of those days leading up to the days of the Conclave. And Cardinal Dolan, obviously was one of the cardinals in the Conclave.
[00:06:30] Speaker B: Right.
[00:06:30] Speaker A: So they go to the B team when they can't get the cardinal. They went to the bishop of Brooklyn.
And so I was getting. I was on different interviews and whatnot. And I remember I was at the house setting up a zoom interview with Fox 5, the local Fox 5 TV.
[00:06:47] Speaker B: Yeah, I remember that. In Everywhere.
[00:06:50] Speaker A: Everywhere. And I was doing the Zoom and they had me on hold. And all of a sudden, lady came on who was like a producer, and she said, bishop, we're going to have to cut away from you. We're not going to do the interview. There's white smoke coming from the chimney.
And then I got on my bicycle and I hustled down to St. Joseph's and I settled in there at Desales and watched. We waited and waited for the new pope to be announced, introduced to the world, and to see his message. What were you doing that day?
[00:07:21] Speaker B: Well, I was serving as pastor of St. Anselm's Church. Remember, watching and listening closely to his first appearance. Stays with me most, was his greeting, greeting of peace. Right from the beginning.
[00:07:37] Speaker A: Right, right.
[00:07:38] Speaker B: His first words invited the whole world to peace, you know, and he put it.
[00:07:43] Speaker A: And he used the. The liturgical that we see. Peace be with you. Right. Which he said, those were the first words of Jesus to his apostles.
[00:07:51] Speaker B: Yes, yeah.
[00:07:52] Speaker A: After the resurrection.
[00:07:53] Speaker B: Absolutely. And from that first greeting until now.
Right. Pope Leo has consistently called the church to be the voice of peace in a world like this, marked by conflict and Division.
That message reminds us that peace begins with conversion of heart and with how we treat one another every day.
[00:08:16] Speaker A: How true. How true it is. Yes. So peace in the world. He stepped into a world leadership of the church in a world that was already fractured in war. Two major conflicts, one of them in Ukraine and one of them in Gaza after the attack On Israel, the October 7th attack a couple of years ago. And so he's been a constant voice of peace, but he mentions that there are wars all over the world in different nations, in Africa, and then most recently, we have real concerns for peace in Iran, for the world to be at peace. Yes, he's a consistent voice. It's not just episodic. From the very first time he stepped on the balcony. Peace be with you.
But I think you make a good point. It's not just saying in this theoretical, hypothetical way to the world, hey, peace, let's hope for peace. But very practical.
Begins with us being peacemakers, letting Christ convert our hearts.
[00:09:20] Speaker B: Right? Yes.
[00:09:21] Speaker A: Yeah. So. So that's good. That. That is a very important message of his. Another message of his was concern for the poor. He wrote that letter D Lixite. Now, that was finishing the work of Pope Francis.
Pope Francis had begun that work, that letter to the poor, but he took it. He took Pope Francis's message, but then he made it his own. And he brought his own experience.
Things that when he was elected, that really struck me was that he was a missionary himself. I was joking at the time, but it's not as much of a joke. It's more than a joke. I used to say, and I still say we've been blessed in the last century or so with popes who had missionary hearts.
[00:10:08] Speaker B: Right.
[00:10:08] Speaker A: They were all missionaries in their spirit, missionary hearts. But Pope Leo had missionary feet, so.
[00:10:16] Speaker B: True.
[00:10:18] Speaker A: He got on the ground and he was a missionary in Peru. But, boy, he brought that missionary spirit. So his care for the poor comes out of his experience, right?
[00:10:28] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. He went to everywhere, literally, not only Latin America, Africa and Asia. He went to Korea five times.
[00:10:39] Speaker A: Oh, really?
[00:10:39] Speaker B: Five times? Yeah.
[00:10:40] Speaker A: Wow. Yeah.
[00:10:41] Speaker B: Even before he made pope.
[00:10:42] Speaker A: Yes. He was, you know, as a missionary. He was in Peru and he worked amongst the poor in Peru, but he was also an Augustinian priest. So he brings that charism of St. Augustine. And he was really the superior general of the whole order.
So he was responsible for the Augustinian priests all around the world. So in that capacity, he visited many times. And then Pope Francis called him to be the head of the office for the bishop so, again, he had a greater responsibility for the world. So, you know, you mentioned Korea. We're looking forward to catching up with him in Korea, aren't we?
[00:11:21] Speaker B: Yes. Yes, we are. The World Youth Day in Seoul next year, 2027, is very exciting. It highlights the vibrant faith of young Catholics in not only Asia, but the whole world. And it reminds us, the entire world, of the Church's global unity. Knowing Pope Leo's love for our young people and his past visit to Korea, I'm sure he's very much looking forward to being with them there.
[00:11:51] Speaker A: Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure. You know, it was Pope Francis who invited us, but it's. Pope Leo is going to lead us. Right. And we're getting ready. There's a lot of excitement here. Right. So. So we have a good group going. In fact, this week, you had a meeting with Father Caroly and all of the different group leaders to prepare to go over where we should be at this point and to get ready with the next steps and build up that anticipation. One of the things I love about World Youth Day with the Brooklyn and Queens contingent is there are a lot of practical preparations, what we have to do to get ready to go. But there were also a lot of spiritual preparation. So we have the monthly holy hours. And so over the course of the year, we're going to be gathering all of our pilgrims together.
[00:12:38] Speaker B: Right.
[00:12:39] Speaker A: Becoming a little bit more united in prayer. So that when we get to World Youth Day, we already have this unity in prayer, and we're already on the pilgrimage even now. The pilgrimage has begun. Yeah. The spiritual journey has begun. Yeah.
[00:12:57] Speaker B: As pilgrims.
[00:12:58] Speaker A: Yes. We're already put together.
[00:13:00] Speaker B: Not a vacation.
[00:13:01] Speaker A: That's right. Not a vacation.
[00:13:03] Speaker B: So we have to properly prepare.
[00:13:06] Speaker A: That's right. You know, you brought a group of young adults to Lisbon from the Korean community.
[00:13:13] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:13:13] Speaker A: And now you go. There'll be Korean. The Korean young adults will be joining us in the diocese.
[00:13:19] Speaker B: Of course.
[00:13:19] Speaker A: Yeah, of course.
[00:13:20] Speaker B: Our diocese been the largest group as a diocese. We been bringing, like, hundreds of young pilgrims. But I myself had a small group of Korean young adults to Lisbon even before to Panama. But this time I'll be assisting you, Bishop, at the same time helping the Korean group from our diocese to prepare this pilgrimage.
[00:13:45] Speaker A: Right. So we're really, really looking forward to that. Now, you know, going back to Pope Leo, this won't be his first gathering with the youth. He came into the papacy during the Jubilee year. I was at the Jubilee for youth with young people from the diocese, had a chance to See him in the big events, had a chance to attend the Wednesday audience and to greet him. It was a funny encounter. There's something about him that's very disarming, and maybe it is the American experience of English or something, but he felt like one of the bishops from the US Conference of Bishops. And so all of a sudden my card dropped. I just put my hand up and he said, hello, your holiness, I'm Bob Brennan from Brooklyn. And he said, brooklyn, that's great, Brooklyn.
So there is something very disarming about his style and his ease with people. But, you know, he was wonderful with the young people at that. You know, he had the question and answers with the kids. Kids during the jubilee for youth talked about themes like friendship, authentic friendship, themes like courage, how do you have the courage to live out your faith? Book about themes of choosing to do the right things, being sustained in prayer. And then in November, we had the ncyc, the Gathering of Young People in the United States. Those are mostly high school students.
Again, we had a group from Brooklyn and Queens, and there was this live encounter with him. Conversation. He was in Rome, but it wasn't a taped message. It was an actual conversation. But then for Sikh, we were in Sikh together, he spoke to the young people at Seek. One of the things I say is, it's. This is again, that connection with the American experience. He doesn't only speak the language. He speaks the language he speaks with our accent, but also he speaks the cultural language, the idioms. He, you know, he could talk about his favorite movies or his music. Right. He could talk about some of the experiences that he had growing up. And that connects with people here. That that's been, I think, a little bit of an awakening amongst the young people here. You know, he's also an Augustinian, and I remember when he first started thinking, oh, boy, we're going to get a lesson on Augustine.
He's always quoting Augustine. And, you know, Augustine has a lot to say to teach us in the century, so. So that's all good. But with the youth, I would say he's kind of the Pope of modern technology.
Not that others haven't used it before, but he's used it extremely well with these messages and video links. And yet he also has something to say about it. Right. You've been noticing what he's been saying about technology and artificial intelligence. Right?
[00:16:35] Speaker B: Right.
[00:16:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:35] Speaker B: Definitely advising us to use the tool in the right way, but not to abuse them.
[00:16:41] Speaker A: Exactly. So, you know, something like AI can be a great tool, can help us to do the research, but it's not the answer to everything. And one of the things that he's constantly reminding us, whether it be AI or even just like texting, he's constantly reminding all of us that these things don't take the place of human relationships. You know, being able to converse with one another and being able to let other people be who they are, right, Rather than to have some artificial construct creating somebody of our likeness that we want to interact with. So he has a very important message about that, and I think we're going to hear a little bit more about. About those things. I mentioned his letter to the poor and the other letter is that the jubilee year last year coincided with the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed. We say it every Sunday. We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, when we talk about Jesus, true God, true man, consubstantial with the Father incarnate of the Virgin. And we had a chance to reflect on everything we believe, which I think was a great gift for. Funny. We were in your old haunts at St. Anselm's in November for the Cathedral Club Memorial Mass on that week when he released that message about the Creed. And I remember it very, very well. You know, there was a point, there was something that really struck me in there. He spoke about the Nicene Creed being an opportunity for us to examine our consciences.
He said, you know, sometimes we have to be better witnesses to what we believe than we are.
But I'm going to read this. I printed it out so I can remember it. He said, the Nicene Creed invites us to examine our conscience. What does God mean to me? How do I bear witness to my faith? Is the one and only God truly the Lord of my life?
Or do I have idols that I place before God and his commandments?
Is God for me, the living God close to me in every situation?
The Father to whom I turn with filial trust?
Is he the Creator to whom I owe everything I am and everything I have and whose mark I can find everywhere in creation? Am I willing to share the goods of the earth which belong to everyone in a just and equitable manner? How do I treat creation, the work of his hands?
Do I exploit and destroy it? Or do I use it with reverence and gratitude, caring for and cultivating it?
Examining your conscience. And is God really first in my life? When I read that, I said, wow, this is something to spend some time with and to pray over. And you can see that then there too, at the heart of everything Else he has this profound respect, certainly for God, but also for the dignity of every person. I think he's calling us to that kind of respect or the dignity of every person. Goes back to his missionary experience, goes back to his name, the name, the choice of the name. Pope Leo Leo xiii, his predecessor was the hope to bring the social gospel into the modern era.
The industrial revolution and everything in the 20th century was based off of his teaching in Merum Novarum. So he, he's reminding us of that importance of the social gospel and what he said to the priest in the jubilee of priest, love God and love your brothers and sisters and be generous in your service to them.
Great reminder for us.
[00:20:13] Speaker B: Yeah, beautiful.
[00:20:14] Speaker A: Yes. So in a sense, he really is continuing Pope Leo XIII's mission of the social gospel, bringing that message to the world.
[00:20:22] Speaker B: Yeah. And he just finished these 11 days of his trip to Africa where again,
[00:20:28] Speaker A: he was a missionary all over again. Right. You could see, you could, you could see something in his face and in his interactions, how the missionary and him came. Came out.
[00:20:37] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:20:38] Speaker A: So it's been quite a year and I'm looking forward to a long pontificate.
I'm looking forward to him being with us for a long while. I'm encouraged. And we pray for our Holy Father. We pray for his mission of peace in the world regularly. We ask the Lord to help and to guide him, but also to help and guide us Church, that we may respond generously to his call. You know, just one other thing before we sign off. This weekend, of course, here in the United States, is Mother's Day. We pray for our mothers. Congratulations to all the moms and the grandmothers who are out there who are listening and everyone make a point. If you have your mom or you have your grandmothers, make a point of saying thank you, of appreciating them while you have them. Of course, my mom passed away two years ago, and so I commend her to the loving hands of God. And for those of us whose moms have gone over to heaven, we pray for them in a very particular way, but with great, great gratitude. Father John, in Korea, is Mother's Day celebrated or when is it celebrated?
[00:21:48] Speaker B: Yeah, of course my mom is in Korea now, but a little differently. We celebrate Mother's Day here this weekend, but in Korea, we celebrate family a bit differently. There is one Parents Day instead of a separate Mother's Day and Father's Day, and May 5th is the Children's Day and May 15th is Teacher's Day and the month of May is known as the month of family. And I think it's a beautiful reminder to give thanks for parents, children, teachers, and all those who help us grow.
[00:22:28] Speaker A: Help us to grow. Help us to grow in the world and shape and form us, and help us to grow in the faith. Because our families are really the first teachers of the faith, right?
[00:22:36] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:22:37] Speaker A: They're the first ones to introduce us to Jesus as a friend to learn how to pray. Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers who are listening. And of course, maybe is the month of our Blessed Mother.
And so we pray and ask her intercession. We're kind of in those late days of Easter, and we have that image of Mary gathering the apostles together in prayer as they were awaiting the Holy Spirit crying out, come, Holy Spirit. The church cries out again. Renew. Come, Holy Spirit. So we'll conclude today's session with prayer. And, you know, during these days of Easter, I often turn to the Regina Cheli, Queen of Heaven. So in the name of the Father and of the Son, of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. Queen of Heaven. Rejoice Alleluia. For the Son whom you merited to bear Alleluia. Has risen as he said.
[00:23:32] Speaker B: Alleluia.
[00:23:33] Speaker A: Pray for us to God.
[00:23:35] Speaker B: Alleluia.
[00:23:36] Speaker A: Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary. Alleluia. For the Lord is truly risen. Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia. And may the blessing of Almighty God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit descend upon you and remain with you forever and ever.
[00:23:50] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:23:51] Speaker A: Thank you for joining us for this week's edition of Big City Catholics. Look forward to being with you again next week. God bless you and have a wonderful week.
Sam.
