Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:10 Welcome to another edition of Big City Catholic. I'm Bishop Robert Brennan, and sitting with me today is Father Christopher Betsy, the vocation director for the Diocese of Brooklyn, serving here in Brooklyn and in Queens. Why don't we begin by calling on the help of the Lord in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Speaker 1 00:00:32 Lord God, in this time of Lent, may everything we do begin with your inspiration. Continue with your saving help and by your guidance, reach happy completion through Christ our Lord. Amen. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. This week I'm actually recording on location. Father Chris and I are at the seminary of Immaculate Conception in Huntington, New York, where we are just wrapping up a vocation retreat where we had 27 young men in different stages of discernment, just being together to pray, to listen to the Lord and to see where the Lord might be calling them, hoping that some of them will be called to serve the church as priest. So Father Chris, welcome and thanks for being with me today.
Speaker 2 00:01:18 Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 00:01:19 We're recording this on Sunday morning, the day that the retreat ends. And, uh, reflecting on it, it's been quite a weekend.
Speaker 2 00:01:27 It has been, you know, it's always a beautiful experience to have so many people who are willing to make that sacrifice of a weekend to come on any kind of a retreat, but to come on a retreat where they ask, you know, life's most important question of what God is calling them to do is very inspiring.
Speaker 1 00:01:40 It is. And you know, we said it at the beginning, and I'll say it again today at Mass, but we have to thank them. This is a very, an act of great generosity on their part. To give up a weekend and even just to be open in a public way, semi-public way, just a round to other people said, wherever God might be calling them. No, it's not a matter of a retreat like this is in a matter of signing on the dotted line, but it is really just saying, I'm open to where God is calling me. And one of those paths might be to serve as a
Speaker 2 00:02:09 Priest. No. And again, it's important even coming here, uh, you know, the word vocation on the bus, one of the guys who was coming, he said, oh, what is a vocation? I thought this was a priest in retreat. You know, it's important to get let people know that everyone has a vocation and everyone is called to serve God and his church in some way in the vocation office in a very particular way. We work to promote vocations to the priesthood, but reclaiming that word vocation and reminding people what it means and that it's for all of us, not just some of us. If that's a fruit of this retreat, I think it's been a success in and of itself.
Speaker 1 00:02:40 Absolutely. God created us for something. God created every one of us for mission. God created every one of us for holiness. So listening carefully to the voice of God, we can find the right path that we can accomplish that mission no matter where it is. Yeah. You know, this retreat is probably one of the more serious events of the year for your office and for the different offerings that we have for young men, discerning priesthood. Tell us about the broad spectrum. So we do a number of things really to
Speaker 2 00:03:12 Help. Yeah. So the office primarily does three main events every year, three main categories of events, but those events take place each month, uh, and it's kind of, you know, an opportunity for everyone to hear God's call. Probably the one that I'm most familiar with that I began working with even before I became Vocation director, is our Fraternity toss program. Fraternity Toss is a program for young men in sixth, seventh, and eighth grade, and it takes place one Saturday a month at Cathedral Prep. It's an opportunity for, you know, sixth, seventh, and eighth graders to come together to see Cathedral Prep as a high school, to see what it's all about. To tell them that it's a place where they're able to discern God's call and they come together for prayer, for mass, for, uh, open gym, for pizza. Very simple afternoon, one to five.
Speaker 2 00:03:57 But currently at Cathedral Prep, 12 of our students have come through that fraternity task program. So I found in the years that I've been working there, it's very effective because, you know, familiarity takes away the fear, right? When someone sees what something is all about, they're more likely to follow. Fear is one of the main obstacles that keeps people away. So bringing them into that high school, which one day could be theirs, it's a great program. Secondly, we have Jeremiah Project, and Jeremiah Project is a weekend retreat once a month at Douglasson. And you know, it's a Friday afternoon through a Sunday morning where the guys who come on the retreat are able to see our seminarians, are able to pray with our seminarians, see what seminary life is like, what is a seminary, and to pray in that beautiful chapel at Douglaston, it really allows them to enter into kind of mystery, take away the fear of that place as well and, and really see the beauty of it, and to see the beauty of following God as a seminarian.
Speaker 2 00:04:56 And then one of the events that I'm very grateful we've been able to expand with both your a Bishop de Marcio's support is the Project Andrew Program. Project. Andrew was an event that was influential for me in my own vocation going to a project. Andrew was one of the ways that I first experienced the kind of particular call of God to priesthood and Project Andrew takes place 10 times a year. So I'm very grateful to our bishops who make time for that in their schedules. But five in Queens and five in Brooklyn, it takes place in each deanery. So the pastors of the deanery are invited to identify a young man in their parish, perhaps a sacrason, an Alta server, someone who they see as very pious in the church. Someone who they see is very active in volunteering and inviting them to this evening with one of our bishops where we're able to hear how God called us and, and maybe invite them to listen to see how God is calling them. And I've found that project Andrew has been one of the most successful, actually, of the 27 participants this weekend. Almost all of them have attended a project, Andrew, within the past two
Speaker 1 00:06:03 Years. Amazing. Amazing. And you know, you were saying that this is with my supporter and Bishop Damasio's support, but really key in Project Andrew has been the supporter of the pastors. What I've noticed over the year that I'm here in the sessions I've been to is that the pastors who are there are very involved, and they're the ones that extend the invitation to the young people. They're the ones who know their young people and the the fellows who come, come in a sense, out of response because they trust their pastors or their priest. So priest are keen and they're really stepping up to the role, and I really
Speaker 2 00:06:38 Appreciate that. Me as well. You know, one of the great things that we have at the project, Andrew, is for also people to see that they're not alone. You know, in one particular parish there may be, as we have here this weekend, we have four guys from particular parish, and these four guys are very involved as Alta servers, as saccharin, as youth ministers, as teachers in the religious education program. But in a parish of 1,004 seem so small, but on these Sunday evenings when they're invited in a deanery of 11 parishes, four times 1144 guys become so much of a bigger testament to that. I'm not alone discerning that. There are other young men in our diocese who perhaps feel this call from God as well. I, I think Project Andrew has been a, a great gift to our diocese. And at the end of this year, we have been to 20 of the 22 Deaneries in October, we'll have been to all 22, and then we'll start over again.
Speaker 1 00:07:31 That's great. That really is great. Now, in terms of vocations, one thing some people might say, okay, well, you know, that's great you're doing this for diocese and priests, but what about religious and what about religious women? It's a question I get and, and I understand it. I do, many of the religious orders have their own vocation directors and their own vocation retreats and actually do a very good job in terms of reaching out and engaging young women if they were women's group or men, if it's a men's group. We've had a, a council of, I was part of the Council of Religious and we had the meeting of the Council of Religious recently where we talked a little bit about vocations and about how these, as a diocese, the congregations commanded together. I know that in April they are sponsoring a night at St. John's University so that young people can encounter different religious congregations and see the different charisms and meet the people. Um, and I think they're looking to do a wider event in October, but it is something we certainly want to encourage. It
Speaker 2 00:08:34 Is once a year we do have a project, Miriam, which is where we reach out to all those vocation directors who work here in Brooklyn and Queens and from all the religious communities, and they are asked to invite somebody similar to what a project Andrew is, an evening of learning about how they were called and about how perhaps God is still calling young women today. And that event takes place once a year. Project Miriam and I found that to be very successful as well. Actually, Bishop at the project Andrew that you hosted at St. Mel's, two young women came from St. John Viani Parish from Flushing, and they came to get information for their youth group.
Speaker 1 00:09:09 They were youth ministers of youth ministers, and so they came to be able to share with others.
Speaker 2 00:09:13 One of the fruits of that project, Andrew, is both of those women are going on a discernment retreat with the little sisters of the Poor.
Speaker 1 00:09:20 Isn't
Speaker 2 00:09:20 That great? Yeah. So they came, we got their contact information and the little sisters of the Poor are having your come see weekend similar to this. And I sent it to them and, and they'll be going on that weekend.
Speaker 1 00:09:31 Actually, I know those two women, I only met them, um, since coming here, but their brother is actually in formation as a caption priest, and I knew him. He, he was working out in Columbus when I was there, so I knew him from his missionary work with, uh, Damascus, uh, a missionary group of young people who worked, they run a summer camp and other kinds of formation experiences. So yeah, it's funny how all those worlds come together. God is doing amazing things. And you know, you talk about vocations to religious life from our diocese. I meet people from all over the world. Well, first of all, I meet people all over the world who have some connection to Brooklyn, but I'm meeting religious women and men who had this in other parts of the country, but who had their experience right here in Brooklyn or Queens. So God is doing some amazing things and calling young people. And one of the things that we are responsible as a church is to help one another to hear the voice of God along the way. What advice would you give to somebody, or maybe what would you ask to do in terms of helping to identify and encourage vocations
Speaker 2 00:10:46 To go back to what you said about influence or the witness of the Diocese of Brooklyn in terms of vocations of realtors life? I think so much of that is the witness of the holy priests and the holy religious brothers and sisters that have worked here. You know, in particular way in Brooklyn, Rockwell Center, we have the Sisters of St. Joseph and the Dominican Sisters Ville, and the witness that they've given to so many decades of Catholics, I is amazing. How many vocations did those sisters inspire in our Catholic schools? How many vocations does those sisters inspire by, you know, their witness of prayer? And I think the same is true of priest in our diocese. We are so blessed to have so many pastors, so many priests who are true disciples of Jesus. And witness says a lot, you know, we're told every year the National Conference of Vocation directors gets together there for a meeting and they remind us that you are the director of vocations, but every priest is a vocation director.
Speaker 2 00:11:45 Every priest needs to be out there asking the question of could God be calling them? Could God be calling you to the priesthood? Every priest has to be passing on that gift and inspiring others to follow. You know, I think this retreat this weekend is a witness of just that the young men who are here by and far are here because someone recognized in them something, whether it was a dedication to their duty as a riston in their parish, whether it was the piety and the way that they serve the mass as an alta server, the way that they teach their religious ed class. I think the vocation is, is noticed by people who are dedicated. And I think all of our pastors, all of our religious truth be told, all of our late people, we all have the responsibility of if we see someone, of inviting them, because God uses all of us not only to serve him, but God uses all of us as an invitation.
Speaker 2 00:12:41 I often think of, uh, my home parish sacred heart in Glendale. And one of the ways that I knew that I wanted to be a priest was yes, through Father full Omar, pastor, yes, through Father Silla. Uh, may he rest in peace, but it was through the elderly, the ladies in the parish who prayed the rosary every morning before mess, who saw me working, locking the church and saw me genuflect in front of the blessed sacrament and say, you know, there's something different about you. You, you have a respect for the Eucharist. Have you ever thought about becoming a priest? That question I had been asked before, but this woman who didn't know me asking me that question, it kind of put in a different perspective. She in a way lent her voice to Christ. God used her to ask me to follow him. And God continues to use all of us today to ask young people to follow. So we need to not be ashamed, not be embarrassed, but confidently ask the question of could God be calling you
Speaker 1 00:13:35 Precisely. So the Lord uses all of us to speak his words. The Lord uses all of us. We encounter the Lord in our encounters with one another. And so another thing I would propose is to build a culture of vocations in different places where I've been. I can see where there are some places that have a real strong culture of vocations, parishes where they're praying for vocations all the time, parishes where people are talking about the joys of marriage, the joys of being a priest, the joys of religious life. So that culture of vocations becomes very important as
Speaker 2 00:14:12 Well. Yeah, you know, I, I think that one of the gifts that I have in my ministry is that my Sundays are open to visiting parishes. You know, I talk to some vocation directors throughout the country and they're, you know, they're pastors of three parishes and, and they're assigned as a weekend assistant in a particular parish, which I'm sure there's merit to that as well. But one of the things that I think is beautiful is that every Sunday I make what's called the vocation visit and a different parish every weekend where at all the masses, I'll speak about vocations because I don't believe that <unk> that I give on a Sunday morning is going to inspire a young man to speak heart priest, maybe it will. But what I believe the more important impact of my visit is, is getting the people of the parish to pray for vocations and getting the priest in the parish to be conscious of those who may be in the parish who have vocations.
Speaker 2 00:15:01 Because I think that it's very easy with the busyness of the church year, seemingly we just finished Christmas and now we're in the holy season of Lent. It's busy. There's constantly things going on. There's constantly responsibilities that sometimes vocations may fall behind a little bit. So I think the beautiful gift that I can give as vocation director and making those vocation visits is reminding people that vocations is not just a concern of a few, but all of us need to be invested in this work that all of us needs to be consciously inviting and praying for vocations. And I think that's, that's a great gift that, that you continue to give to the diocese by allowing that witness to be shared.
Speaker 1 00:15:41 Exactly. Now, some people may have heard that we are going through some tweaks, some changes in the program of priestly formation, and it's really a change of outlook. The traditional way of looking at formation, preparing men to be priest would be the four pillars, and they remain human formation, spiritual formation, academic formation, and pastoral formation. But the church is now asking us to kind of turn the focus a little bit again, to think less in terms of academic years and more in terms of stages along the way. Basically to see this time of formation becoming a priest as a journey, walking with Christ and letting Christ speak to them along the way. So we kind of move some of that human formation up to the front. We, there's a fancy word, we talk about the prop duty gear. When a man is coming in, having already had the college experience, he begins with that prop duty year when a man begins with college, he starts two years of college and then has that prop duty year. The whole point of that is to build on the human and the spiritual formation.
Speaker 2 00:16:43 Obviously seminary is an, it is a beautiful time of preparation for priesthood, but in the similar way to what we were saying about a parish, a parish could be very busy formation. It's highly, highly academic formation with good reason because the priest, when he's ordained, needs to be able to speak confidently and well and correctly about the church and what we believe. But first, someone needs to be a disciple of Jesus. You know, Monsignor Dets, who taught at Douglaston for so many years, he said, you everyone thinks you're here to become priests. He's like, but first we have to make sure you're human. Second, we have to make sure you're a Christian. Then, and only then can we talk about becoming priests. A priest is first and foremost a disciple, and a disciple has to first and foremost follow Jesus. So the prop of duty year is now putting a, at the very beginning, a greater emphasis on spirituality. Before we learn about, you know, preaching and sacraments and, and canon law, before any of that, we have to know that our first and fundamental responsibility is to get to heaven and to bring as many people on that journey with us as possible. And I think the prop duty gear is putting us in a proper perspective to really remember what this is all about. Right.
Speaker 1 00:17:59 You know, prop duty is a fancy word, but basically it's sort of a transition period. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it's a transition year and generally it will be a year, but the, the proper terminology is the prop duty stage. These are stages in our life's journey where, like you say, the first stage is to become a disciple of Jesus, to become a confident human being and a disciple of Jesus Christ, and then the academic and the pastoral formation pick up. And so we revamp to meet those needs, but it's all about building a culture that will give to the church wonderful, generous, talented priest. I thank God for all the priests who have come our way through the generations and over the years, but now we ask the Lord to help us as we undertake this new approach to, to formation. Father Christ, thank you so much for being with us today. Thank you for the grace of this retreat, and thank God for the grace of this retreat as well. I'm very moved to be able to say that, you know, God is doing great things in our church, and thanks to all those who work in formation, preparation of priests and of religious and those who promote those
Speaker 2 00:19:07 Vocations. And definitely, you know, just to summarize, yesterday we had our seminarians here and two of those seminarians who are in the seminary now have attended this retreat since 2020. So you know, God is continually working in the church and the prayers of all of the parishioners, the prayers of all the priests, they make a difference. So I appreciate that as well.
Speaker 1 00:19:29 Well, thank you for joining us One more time for a big city Catholic. I wish to you and all your loved ones a very good week and God's many blessings. Please join us in praying for vocations to the ministries in the church. We need those vocations and God is doing amazing things. The Lord be
Speaker 2 00:19:52 With you and with your
Speaker 1 00:19:53 Spirit, almighty God bless you, the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen.
