Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:10 Well, welcome back to another edition of our diocese podcast, big City Catholics, with our Diason Bishop, Bishop Robert Brennan, and myself, father Christopher hen you we're grateful that you're able to join us this week, and we begin in prayer. In the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Asking our blessed mother's intercession, we pray. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with the blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of the th Jesus.
Speaker 2 00:00:35 Holy Mary, mother of God. Pray for us sinners now and that the hour of our death. Amen. In the
Speaker 1 00:00:40 Name of the Father's Son and Holy Spirit, a very happy St. Patrick's Day to you and to all our listeners today on St. Patrick's Day. Both of us will be at St. Patrick's Cathedral, the city,
Speaker 2 00:00:53 Right? That's right. We'll be there for the mass with Cardinal Dolan, and then we'll be out on the steps to watch the parade go by.
Speaker 1 00:01:01 I might be walking the parade this year. Ah. Um, my father's from Ga County Galway. My mother's from county Methe, and they watch to see which county goes up first. If Galway goes up first, we walk with Galway. If Mead goes up early enough, we walk with me. So this year, I think county Galway's going up pretty early. So I'll walk up, I'll wave to you and then I'll swing back down and probably watch the rest of it from the steps.
Speaker 2 00:01:25 Very good. I have a confession. I probably won't be there for the whole thing. At some point I'll slip out because we still have our Lenin pilgrimage that takes us to Sacred Heart in Bayside and very
Speaker 1 00:01:39 Irish neighborhood.
Speaker 2 00:01:40 That's right. So I want to get there for some of their prayer time. Um, they have different events going on during the day stations as a cross. It's a Friday, some activity with the school, some activity with relics. So I'd like to be able to get there sometime in the early part of the afternoon, which may mean gracefully slipping out not too long after it starts. Oh, okay. Alright. I'll enjoy it though. I'll be there for a bit.
Speaker 1 00:02:04 We're praying for good weather as always.
Speaker 2 00:02:06 Oh indeed, as always. Indeed. And of course, it's already known that I joined with Cardinal Dolan, that both the Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Brooklyn have given Dispensations on Friday because Fridays in Lent remain days of abstinence. We've abstain from eating meat. We eat either fish or meatless kinds of meals this year, falling on a Friday St. Patrick's Day. It's the Patronal Feast for New York. We grant the dispensation. We're
Speaker 1 00:02:36 Very grateful.
Speaker 2 00:02:37 <laugh> we're very
Speaker 1 00:02:38 Grateful. I was at an event recently on Irish event, uh, in Anton's, and it's in Springfield Gardens and this catering hall. And I said, you can thank Cardinal Dolan and Bishop Brennan so that we can enjoy our corn, beef, and cabbage on Friday.
Speaker 2 00:02:54 <laugh>. Well, you wanna know something? I'm ified by the fact that it matters to many people that you know, in fact, there are a lot of people who've said, oh, that doesn't matter anymore. I, I'm aware of that. But it does matter to a lot of people. The fact of asking for the dispensation means that they really do try to keep sure the abstinence, they try to keep the practice, and I think that's commendable. And if every once in a while we can get a break, why not? You know? Thank you. Often enough, you know, the days, sometimes if St. Joseph's Day falls on a Friday or if March 25th Annunciation, we'll talk about those a little later. Those are solemnities. You don't need a dispensation. The, uh, obligation is lifted because the solemnity outweighs the Len fast. But we do try to do it now, what we do ask is that we make some other kind of penitent act. Maybe visit the stations while you're in a church that day. Maybe say an extra rosary, maybe contemplate the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary. Perhaps an act of charity doing some kind of act of extraordinary charity, whether it be physical charity helping somebody in need or generosity, s giving. But we try to give some kind of nce to recognize that it is a Friday. But yeah, I I think it's nice that it matters.
Speaker 1 00:04:11 I I think so too. I was reading recently on Twitter, I guess it was toward the start of Lent, mark Wahlberg went on to one of the news outlets and was talking about his penitent practices through Lent, and someone retweeted it and said, mark Wahlberg's 40 day challenge. Like it wasn't, they had totally removed the idea of lent from it, any kind of religious statement from it. It was called Mark Wahlberg's 40 Day Challenge.
Speaker 2 00:04:40 Well, it's interesting we talk about the penitent practices in the church, many of which have been now rejected by society, but then now trying to be recaptured by society. Oh, yeah. Under a different name. You know, now you hear the, this great virtue of it, meatless Mondays <laugh>
Speaker 1 00:04:57 Just change the day of the week.
Speaker 2 00:04:58 That's exactly, but that there are certain practices that the church has always asked and provided mm-hmm. <affirmative> that are good for the soul. Yeah. And people who step away from the church seem to look to recover a lot of those spiritual practices. And I always get a kick out of that. Meatless Mondays is one that comes immediately to mind.
Speaker 1 00:05:23 If you were directing someone who's in the spiritual life and you'd say are, are you of the mindset, are you on the camp where, uh, Sundays you can do or eat whatever you gave up?
Speaker 2 00:05:35 That's a good question. I I take it from two different angles. Technically speaking, Sundays remain Sundays. In fact, they, if you add up the days of Lent, it comes to more than 40.
Speaker 1 00:05:45 40.
Speaker 2 00:05:46 Yeah. Sundays are Sundays. They, we still celebrate the resurrection of the Lord. On a purely practical note, I think it's hard to give something up and then partake in, in them on Sunday, because I'm the kind of personality, if I gave up chocolate and I took chocolate on Sunday, it would be very hard not to take it again on Monday. <laugh> on Monday, <laugh> once, once you break that routine, it's true. Something about Lent that gives you a sense of a routine and a discipline. So for me, it's easier if you're going to do it, just go straight through it. On the other hand, we talk about giving things up for land, but really the church calls us to more than that, calls us really to deeper prayer. So the three practices of length, prayer, fasting, and aals giving or works of mercy, they go together. They fit very, very beautifully together.
Speaker 2 00:06:37 And during the week, we had a beautiful reflection by St. Peter oligo about those practices. And so he uses the image that one goes, you can't have one without the other. Prayer knocks at the door, fasting, obtains, mercy, prayer, fasting, and mercy. These three are in fact one, and they give life to each other. Fasting is the soul of prayer. Mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. Let no one try to separate them. I love this. He says, when you fast see the fasting of others, if you want God to know that you are hungry, know that somebody else is hungry. If you hope for mercy, show mercy. If you look for kindness, show kindness. If you want to receive give, if you ask for yourself what you deny to others, you are asking for a mockery. Well, you know, the so that they go together, um, those three points, but they awaken. So when you're hungry, you were more attentive to other people's hungry. So these practices are good, but it's not just a matter of, oh, I'm giving up chocolate for the sake of giving up chocolate. It's, it's reflect on what really matters in my life and how, if I'm denying myself, I think of people who are denied all the time. Sure, sure. It's poverty or need
Speaker 1 00:07:52 Absolutely. To develop our, and grow in our relationship with Christ. Really bottom line. Exactly. It's not the Mark Wahlberg 40 day
Speaker 2 00:08:01 C, not, you know, and Mark Wahlberg, I think is really trying to do the right thing. It's how he was quoted. Yeah. You know, when I was in, in Ohio, Catholics were 10% of the population in the diocese of Columbus, but a mighty 10%. And I always tell the story that huge in central Ohio was the culture of the fish fries, parishes and knights of Columbus. They all had fish fries on Friday, and it really was about, so there was a penitent act about it, but actually people enjoyed the fish fries.
Speaker 1 00:08:31 Absolutely.
Speaker 2 00:08:32 Yeah. However, there was that community building and it extended far beyond the parish. Um, parishionist people, non-Catholics came, the whole community came by. I remember being at one up in the northern part of the diocese, there were a few Amish families that came in <laugh>. So it really had an impact on, on society so much so to that 40 days challenge. The fast food chains had signs outside, limited time special Sure. Uh, fish sandwiches on Friday. Sure. Yeah. That's one silly, but tangible way that the Catholic culture just made its way Absolutely. Into the logical culture.
Speaker 1 00:09:12 Yeah. I saw it in my, my local pizzeria last Friday. They had two big signs on their counter specials today. A shrimp Parmesan deep dish pizza. It didn't sound that delicious, but <laugh>. But, and then another shrimp related dish. But that was their special of the day. And may I say Bishop, if I can, Friday, March 24th, the co cathedral of St. Joseph is hosting a fish fry. Our fish
Speaker 2 00:09:37 Fish fry. Ah,
Speaker 1 00:09:38 Very good. We have a gentleman who's actually from Ohio and he's a chef, and he comes to mass every Sunday. And he said he wanted to bring the Ohio fish fry culture
Speaker 2 00:09:48 To look at
Speaker 1 00:09:49 That, to the co cathedrals. Look at that. We're doing it Friday the 24th. Very
Speaker 2 00:09:53 Good. Very
Speaker 1 00:09:54 Good.
Speaker 2 00:09:54 If you're free, we'll, we'll see what we can do. Yeah. So we talked a little bit about the practice of prayer, uh, fasting abstinence during England, and Yes. So we have that dispensation this Friday, but it is a great day, isn't it? St. Patrick's
Speaker 1 00:10:10 Day. Oh. Every year. You know, as a child, I was never, we were, if I were sick, I would be dragged to school. Like you were never sick enough to miss school. But on St. Patrick's Day, we were allowed to miss school. My parents would go, we went to the city every year with or without a ticket to get into the mass. I remember, you know, back years ago, the mass at St. Patrick, it still is very crowded, but it was standing room only years ago. I mean, it's still very crowded. My parents plan on going, we plan on marching. It's just a great way to celebrate our Irish heritage. And it's the longest parade. I mean, it's one of the longest running parades. It started before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Wow. It's a pretty impressive nonstop. Even during C O V I D, they, they did, if you remember, they did like a ceremonial parade down the fighting 69th walk down fifth Avenue. So it's great to participate in that.
Speaker 2 00:11:05 It is even, you know, all the different customs. I, and I always say again, a little bit of a break in the time of lent, we don't go overboard, but we just a little bit of something lighter. Yeah. On the other hand, you know, St. Patrick is a very important saint, a great missionary, uh, a great model for us in today's world. Sure. You know, so Patrick's circumstances were unique. He was kidnapped as a young man, you know, probably even as a teen forced into labor, spent a lot of time alone. And in that time, maybe at boredom started to pray. But over time, that prayer led him to a deeper relationship with God when he found his freedom. And there were different stories about him finding his freedom. Yeah. He makes his way back home and then longs for the Irish people. He longs to bring them the gospel and he goes back. I mean, when you think about it, what a risk that he took. And then he became a missionary bishop. And I think that's a great model for what we need in the world today.
Speaker 1 00:12:10 Absolutely. Yeah. The Holy Spirit works in interesting ways. I kind of go back to my own lived experiences. My father always wanted a son named Patrick. He had three opportunities. He didn't name any one of us, Patrick. So my confirmation saint, I chose Patrick. I just chose it because I'm Irish because my father liked the name. I recognize, I think I lean on the intercessory support of St. Patrick, especially in my assignment now in downtown Brooklyn. It's very much an evangelistic assignment. So the Holy Spirit works in funny ways,
Speaker 2 00:12:43 Very similar to me. I, my grandfather was Patrick, and he died when I was very, very young. I chose St. Patrick as my confirmation saint. Part of it was, the Irish part of it was my grandfather. But as I got older, I too, especially as a priest and now as a bishop, I look to him Yeah. As, as a meal model and, and intercessor.
Speaker 1 00:13:05 We have a chance maybe next week to talk about it, and I hope we'll talk about it after the fact, but what an honor it is for you, I'm sure to be named the Grand Marshall of the Lindenhurst St. Patrick Parade,
Speaker 2 00:13:16 High Hometown,
Speaker 1 00:13:17 March 25th.
Speaker 2 00:13:18 On March 25th, we have the Lindenhurst St. Patrick State Parade. I'll offer mass in my home in parish of our lady, perpetual help in the morning. And then we have the parade kicking off in Lindenhurst Longwood Avenue, the major of thoroughfare. It's part of a real revival, uh, village life in Lindenhurst over the last couple of years. The village has worked hard to build up business and build up a community spirit. And I'm kind of proud of that. I'm proud of what they're doing. I am far removed from it all. Sure. But when I watch and look back and see, I'm very proud and I'm honored that they would reach out to me, that they would see a leader in the Catholic church as something worthy of recognizing. So it's not about me, but that they would see a leader from the town in the Catholic Church is something that's important to them. So that says more about them than it does about me, and I'm just glad to be with them that
Speaker 1 00:14:15 Day. I think it's a, it is a great honor. Your parents hopefully will be there, be able, and your family will be able to share in that in that day with you, do you get to like ride in like a Corvette convertible or something? Or do you walk down? I mean,
Speaker 2 00:14:28 If I have my, uh, brothers, I think I'll, I'll, I'll walk. Actually, we had a dinner to kick off the celebration just about a week or so ago. And my family was able to be there. Most of my family, I was glad for that. They gave me the, the sash That's right. The Grand Sash, but they also gave me
Speaker 1 00:14:45 Bat baton or
Speaker 2 00:14:46 Something. Yeah. He, yes, he called it a black thorn stick. I look at it, we, we, we would call it a chale. I'll certainly use the one they gave me. I'm honored by it'd appreciate it. But actually we have my great-grandfather's shali. He came from Belfast over a hundred years ago. Wow. And so we have his shali from, from Belfast, from
Speaker 1 00:15:05 One you can trade off, walk a few blocks with one and
Speaker 2 00:15:09 The other. So I don't want to be ungrateful. Yeah. I wanna recognize that they gave it, but maybe another member of the family can use my great-grandfather's. Sure, sure. But it is, we celebrate our Irish heritage. We celebrate our families, and we celebrate our families making their way here in the New York area over the generations. So your parents directly came from Ireland? Yes. Yeah. My grandfather, and then my mother's grandparents came from Ireland. Part of my family is Czech, so my father's mother, her family would be Czech and her, her grandparents would've been born in Bohemia at the time. Sure. Then my father's father, the Brennan's side, that's the, uh, from actually coal mining territory in Pennsylvania generations. So they were here in the 1850s census. So they came sometime in the 1840s during the, I guess the time of the hunger.
Speaker 1 00:16:04 Yeah, sure, sure. Makes sense. And, and many did, many did come to Pennsylvania to those coal mining towns.
Speaker 2 00:16:11 That's right.
Speaker 1 00:16:11 Yeah. Yeah. So my grandfather, my, my paternal grandfather, he came out from Ireland, settled in in Pennsylvania for some years, and then actually was one of the few, in my estimation, that returned back to Ireland. So he didn't make America a home for himself. He made some money to support the family. I went back to Ireland,
Speaker 2 00:16:33 See my grandfather, my, my mother's father was quite the opposite. He came by ship. Yeah. In the 1920s. It was a difficult crossing. Something he didn't talk about very much, and did not have any intention ever to return. So he did go back in the 1960s. He saw his father, and his father died shortly after, and then he died shortly after that. So I was glad he made that trip.
Speaker 1 00:16:59 I think we could maybe even say a word of those stories. I, I remember bringing my parents when I was at Holy Child, Jesus, to, uh, Spanish speaking mass. You know, the story was actually was the, the day of the three Kings, the feast. And I told the story of just the modern of immigration and coming from your home country to a new land, bringing one's faith with you. And Yeah, I understand. I would never equate, you know, my parents, when they came to America, they spoke English. They, you know, there's differences certainly, but the story of the, of the immigrant is always pretty much equal. It's all about finding new land, trusting in God, bringing one's faith with them to the new land. You know, how important all of those, those commonalities, granted again, there were certain, certain differences and certain aspects of that process that my parents didn't have to worry about. Right. Learning a new language or something. Maybe they had to remove a bit of their accent or something, but that's nothing in comparison.
Speaker 2 00:17:59 But over in prior generations, they did experience a certain amount of prejudice Yeah. And struggle, and took the very difficult jobs. Sometimes people took very difficult jobs. Again, we talk about the coal mines of Pennsylvania. That was not an easy life. Sure. And they came so that future generations might have opportunities. But the, uh, it's funny, getting more involved in the Spanish speaking world, in, in the cultural events. A lot of the events that I attend, again, difference in language, but they remind me of things I did as a child. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> in the Irish world, you know, the, the, the parties, uh, the the music. Yeah. The dance. Yeah. Uh, the cultural realities. It's a lot of that comes back as I walk with, um, the Hispanic culture, the different countries, and lives out some of those customs today. It's really, um, inspiring.
Speaker 1 00:18:51 I was, uh, assigned to a parish in Brooklyn with, in Sunset Park, and I worked with Father Kevin Sweeney, now Bishop Kevin Sweeney. And we were invited to a Mexican family's wedding reception, and it was in the basement of an apartment building a very low ceiling. So for me, I'm six foot four, so it was like really difficult for me. But as we sat down to eat, like the buffet meal, father Kevin said, this is what the Irish did. Yeah. 50 years ago. Exactly. You know, we, they sat in these basement apartments, you know, of apartment buildings celebrating, you know, the weddings and Kelly's, and they, you know,
Speaker 2 00:19:26 When New York was Irish, Irish,
Speaker 1 00:19:28 You know, what did for me, that's where it really hit
Speaker 2 00:19:32 Hard. And a lot of it was around music. Yeah. Right. Yeah. A lot of it was around music, just like today. Yeah. In the different groups now. So that's big to us because of our heritage. But I, like I said, it's, it's, it's significant for his church because he visit a missionary vision. But of course, on Monday we are going to celebrate a day late, but we're gonna celebrate the Feast of St. Joseph. That's right. And so Joseph is usually March 19th. March 19th falls on a Sunday this year. So he gets bumped and we'll celebrate his day on Monday, March 20th. And that's a solemnity in the church.
Speaker 1 00:20:08 That's right. Another day in which we, we sing the Gloria, we sing an hallelujah. Right. There's a Exactly. It's a high holy day. It's an important feast in, in our, in our faith. Why? Because he's the foster father of Jesus. And Joseph has a few on the Liturgic calendar, a few feast days. Now Joseph the worker,
Speaker 2 00:20:27 But this is the major one. This is, uh, this scene, Joseph St. Joseph is Patron, the Universal church. We had the year of St. Joseph just before I came. In fact, one of the first things I did here was I arrived on November 30th, and I had the honor of closing the year of Joseph, um, at events in the diocese.
Speaker 1 00:20:49 Yeah, of course. At the Diocese of Brooklyn. We have three churches, uh, under his,
Speaker 2 00:20:53 One of them is the cathedral. The Feast of St. Joseph is important for us. It means something for us.
Speaker 1 00:21:00 Absolutely. And we're gonna have an evening prayer and holy Hour in the evening of Monday. And, and then we've ordered 150 St. Joseph Pastries. I know that's not on the diet, but again, this is a solemnity in Lent. So it's a day of of
Speaker 2 00:21:14 Pieces. Right. You don't need, you don't need a, uh, dispensation to have pastries. That's
Speaker 1 00:21:19 Right. <laugh>. So we're, uh, we're excited to, uh, to celebrate it. And I hope that the church is, are, you know, on many more continue to, uh, to do so and celebrate his this great solemnity.
Speaker 2 00:21:31 And then at the end of the week, another solemnity on the Feast of the Annunciations. So the 25th of March, nine months before the celebration of Christmas, we celebrate the Annunciation when Angel Gabriel came to Mary and asked her to be part of God's great plan. And Mary said, let it be it done to me according to his will. That's a remarkable moment. That is the moment when God took on human flesh in the womb of the Virgin mother. You know, we, something we've kind of gotten used to. But that's remarkable to say that God took on human flesh. Didn't, he didn't just make an appearance. He didn't pretend to be human. He really and truly human person who all the pains and the aches and the struggles that we face and yet fully divine and not the easiest thing to explain, but certainly bedrock of our Christian faith.
Speaker 1 00:22:29 Yeah. What none of the other religions claim that, you know, we have a personal relationship with a fully human and fully divine God and what a blessing that is. I know we'll have a chance, perhaps to talk more about that solemnity in next week's podcast. But Bishop, uh, until then, a very blessed St. Patrick's Day and, uh, and St. Joseph's Day to you and to all of our listeners
Speaker 2 00:22:54 In honor of St. Patrick, why don't we offer the Irish blessing? Sure. May the road rise to greet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, may the reigns fall soft upon your field. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of his hands. May mighty God bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Speaker 1 00:23:22 Amen. I have a blessed week. Take care.
