Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:10 Welcome back to another edition of our Dasan podcast, big City Catholics with Bishop Robert Brennan, the Bishop of Brooklyn, myself, father Christopher Henno, happy to have you back to join us on another edition. Thank you for participating in this podcast. We begin in prayer. In the name of the Father, son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Speaker 2 00:00:36 Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. Amen. The Fathers the Son of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Speaker 1 00:00:49 I chose that prayer, Bishop cuz we started the week with celebrating our earthly fathers.
Speaker 2 00:00:53 That's right. You know, we, we record these a few days in advance, and with all the things going on, coming off of Corpus Christi going into Sacred Heart, and even in my own weekly Sunday reflection, never mentioned Father's Day. Thankfully you caught it, but it was great to celebrate Father's Day. Sure. So were you able to see your dad? I
Speaker 1 00:01:13 Did. I, I came, I visited home. My, my poor father recently had an elective surgery on his foot, and so, uh, he's sort of, kind of hopping around and it's hard to see, you know, him in that kind of position, but he keeps his joy and, and of course my poor mother now is, uh, wife and housekeeper and nurse and, uh, she's really the one who needs the prayers as well in, in this way. But it was great to see him and spend time with him. You, you visited
Speaker 2 00:01:41 Home and the same with me. Um, it's always great to be able to go visit my folks. One of the many advantages, being back here in Brooklyn in Queen is a lot closer to them than I was during those years when I was in Ohio. So now it's just a matter of getting in the car Sure. And getting out to see them. So for me, as my parents begin to age, it's just a wonderful lesson in the beauty of marriage and the beauty of Christian marriage. Seeing two people who spent 62 years, nearly 62 years together in marriage, building a family, and now really caring for one another in the most basic and simple of ways, the image of Jesus kneeling down to wash the feet of his disciples is all the more powerful. Sure. For me now, as I see both my parents caring for each other, but in a very particular, my father is the caregiver taking care of everything in the house and never, ever complaining.
Speaker 2 00:02:36 In fact, if anything all that he's going through evokes gratitude. He'll, he'll say something to me along the lines of, you know, instead of saying, oh, there's so much to take care of in this house, he looks at me and he says, I never realized how much your mother had to do Wow. To take care of this house. And we are just two people. I don't know how it must have been like with Seven <laugh>. Sure. So in a sense, right now, while there's a blessed burden placed upon him, it really evokes gratitude rather than resentment. And that's just a beautiful, beautiful thing to see. Is
Speaker 1 00:03:12 It the same house that you grew up in? It
Speaker 2 00:03:15 Is. Yeah. So they moved into that house in December of 1968. Wow. I was six years old at the time, and we essentially grew up in that house. And, uh, they're now taking care of everything there. And they keep it nice and, you know, everybody tries to pitch in my brothers and sisters, you know, on Father's Day. I think too of many things I learned from my dad growing up. It's funny, I catch myself saying things and doing things and realizing, you know, like the commercial, you're turning into your parents, that's me. All of a sudden I'll say something, I said, oh, isn't that <laugh>? Isn't that what dad says? I was like, wow. We're we're becoming our parents. And Yeah. And you know, and people will tell me more. So in the past when I was younger, people would say, oh, remind me of your dad. And when he was your age, I'm thinking to myself, that's a real compliment, that compliment our father's also hard hard workers. Right.
Speaker 1 00:04:12 That's right. My father, you know, even at 70 years old, he was doing carpentry work and in into his seventies, you know, he, he retired when, when he was in his sixties, and then he couldn't wait to keep going back to work. He was able to work maybe 40 hours a month, you know, or something to that effect. And then when they, he hit 70, they said, well, there's no more rules against you working 40 hours. You can work 40 hours a month. You can work 40 hours a week if you want. And he went back to work. He just loved, loved what he did, was so well respected by his coworkers. And I remember just a funny story, you know, I was ordained, my father was still working, he was doing like 74 years old, and my mother called me one Sunday afternoon. She said, you know, what are you up to? I said, well, I just took a nap. You know, I had a, she said, you took a nap? I said, yeah. I said, I had like two, two masses this morning and some meetings. She said, so you had two hours of work and a few meetings. You know, she said, your father is 73 years old and he's working, you know, doing real work. You know, she would say, I said, real work. You know, it's, you learn. I've learned so much about, like you said, hard
Speaker 2 00:05:18 Work. I have hard work value, dedication of putting other people first of making sacrifices. You know, when I was young, my father was a New York City police officer, and that required in itself an awful lot of dedication. It also required all kinds of hours. He usually worked nights. But by doing that, he made himself available to us, uh, his family. And the other thing is he worked other jobs. He worked in a bank when we were very young. He, he worked in with the funeral home, you know, doing Paul bearing and things like that. Anything to make sure that we could have all the things we need. A big piece of it was Catholic education. So they, he worked, you know, many, many hours when he would have overtime or something like that, just so that he could provide for our needs. And I remember when I was about to be ordained, I had a real sit down with my pastor, Monsignor Hamilton.
Speaker 2 00:06:13 This is kind of apropos to what you were just saying. It was a real pep talk on his part. I don't know if that was the purpose of it, but it's what it ended up being. And he was aware of the things my father was doing, and he said, as a priest, you need to learn from your own dad. And as a priest, you need to do that kind of work for the sake of the kingdom, for the sake of the parish. As a priest, you'll probably have a little bit more leeway in how you use your time. He said, you have to keep the, uh, example of your dad always in front of you. He said that to me 34 years ago, and it's as powerful today as the day I heard it.
Speaker 1 00:06:53 And you learn every day about keeping that example, you know, how true. Bishop, just before we move on to the topic at hand too, you mentioned being in Ohio and, and having that distance. It's interesting in a way that you, you are ordained a Dasan priest and then when you're elevated to the rank of bishop, but especially when you're given the responsibility of being an ordinary, it's almost like you become sort of like a missionary in a way. You're, you're sent off to wherever the church needs you. So you're, you're sort of leaving your family behind in way that
Speaker 2 00:07:26 Is, I mean, it's sort of ironic. One of the reasons I chose being a diocesan priest. I didn't know much about religious priest to be honest, but I said I ought to explore it. I remember I was talking to one religious priest and he said, well, you know, with us, you could go here, you could go there, you can go to Panama. You I don't wanna do that.
Speaker 3 00:07:46 I wanna stay in New York.
Speaker 2 00:07:49 So I made a commitment to a place and well, God had the last laugh. Yeah, absolutely. It was a shorter, I guess it was maybe just a little bit of a way of God saying, see, I guess <laugh>,
Speaker 3 00:07:57 See Yes.
Speaker 2 00:07:58 But, but that's the meaning of the word apostolic. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> one, holy Catholic, apostolic taking on the role, the successor to the apostles, the ones who were sent. That's right. We heard that last Sunday in the gospels. Jesus summoned the 12 to himself, and his heart was moved with pity for the crowds. He summoned the group to himself. He said, pray to the harvest master to send out work is into the field. Oh, and by the way, I'm answering the prayer, go out to the
Speaker 3 00:08:27 Field <laugh>.
Speaker 2 00:08:29 Yes. Until it begin. Yes. You sent, yes, he summoned and then he sent Sure. And that's what he does with us. That is a meaning of, of, of, of the life of a bishop and of priest. We, we were sent. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:08:41 I mean, I, I'd say it jokingly too, and I was moved from Queens to Brooklyn. I feel like I'm on mission here in Brooklyn, you know, <laugh>, I'm only, you know, a half mile further away, uh, from my, my parents' house as I was in my last assignment. But, you know, for a Queen's family, you're, you know, your family is in Brooklyn, they say, oh, you're in another, you're in another state. So I just, I thought that was interesting and beautiful too, to think of, of that sense of, yeah, you're, you're leaving your family behind in a way that could, and,
Speaker 2 00:09:09 And then he, and then he brought me back, actually, he brought me back to the land of my, my father. So now when I talk about the things that I do, I'm hitting all of his landmarks, St. Bridget's, Paris, St. Francis Prep, the different neighborhoods that, that he would've known. It is nice sharing those things with him as well. We find ourselves now coming into the octave or the week of religious liberty. It starts on June 23rd. So we started with the Feast of Saint Thomas Moore and John Fisher, and it takes us through to the Feast of Saints, Peter and Paul on the 29th, but has some other interesting feast in the middle of it. The nativity of John the Baptist, A very important figure for me. So we're coming into some days that are really rich. We talk about being sent to bear witness to Jesus Christ. We look to some of the Saints who did exactly that. Sure.
Speaker 1 00:10:00 Especially, you know, starting it off with John Fisher and Thomas Moore. Those are the two great examples of those who stood up for what they believed, even in the face of great persecution. And I think the call is now more than ever to do the same. We mentioned in one of our previous podcasts of that, which is in the recent news in our country in Los Angeles with the Dodgers and
Speaker 2 00:10:23 Precisely, and Archbishop Olio speaking to the bishops mentioned, you know, the, uh, the new National Pastime, anti-Catholic bias and anti-Catholic rhetoric. A lot of that has to do with the Catholic Church's stand on life and on the family. Some of, yeah, there were people who disagree with us. And, and I, I'm aware of that. We do live in a pluralistic society. But a couple of things. One, as Catholics, one of our responsibilities is to bear witness to the truth of what we profess, but also as American citizens, we not only have a right, but we have a responsibility to contribute to the national dialogue. That that's what this whole experiment of democracy is all about. So the idea of if you're Catholic, sit down and shut up. I mean, or if you're a Catholic, and I've heard we've heard this right here in New York State, you're in the Ethal.
Speaker 2 00:11:17 It's just unacceptable because we, as an American citizens, we have a responsibility. And for us as Catholics, that is bearing witness to the truth. But then we see some of the particularly hateful, uh, rhetoric and demonstrations. So we saw that last Friday with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the lead up to that with the called themselves, I think the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. It's really, when you look at some of the videos of the things they do and the things that they say, it is outlandish hatred. It really is. It's, it's disgusting. So it was good. Many people in Los Angeles, um, really did stand up.
Speaker 1 00:12:03 Yeah. The news reports were, were quite beautiful on the Catholic channels of the prayerful protests. Yes.
Speaker 2 00:12:11 Uh, that, that powerful witness, again, we talked before about, uh, getting ahead of ourselves in the recording, but the Feast of the Sacred Heart was a day of prayer for the, uh, sanctification of priests. And I recorded different messages about that, and we talked a lot about that. And then just like a couple of days, a day or two before the conference of Bishops mentioned, using that day, because ironically, that very day was, is enough the Feast of the Sacred Heart. Yes. And so, a day that is kind of special to us. I I don't think anybody thought that one through it's, but a day that is so important to us. But at the same time is also a day of reparation. You know, the prayers of the sacred Heart. We speak of the heart of Christ. Wounded, pierced,
Speaker 1 00:12:54 Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:12:55 Pierced many people across the country prayed the litany of the sacred heart. And you can always do that, pray that in reparation, asking God's forgiveness upon us as a society for all the attacks upon his sacred heart. And so people did pray there in California, but across the country, the litany for the sacred heart, we,
Speaker 1 00:13:16 Uh, joined in unison as well at the Cathedral. We offered that litany at the English and Spanish mass that Friday morning. We had a beautiful liturgy on that solemnity at the altar of the sacred heart of Jesus. It did strike me then too, that, you know, not only was I just upset of what was happening in Los Angeles, but then to realize that it's falling on this great solemnity like it, you know, not that it makes it any worse or any better, it one way or the other, if it was it on a different day or something. But that it, it happened to be on this day. But perhaps in a way it's an opportunity. It always is an opportunity for prayer and for God's grace. I mean, you've mentioned a few times, Bishop, especially in our own diocese, with attacks on the, the Eucharist,
Speaker 2 00:14:01 Sometimes because of hatred, sometimes because of mental disturbances. We, we had twice, I've offered masses of reparation in churches because of direct attacks on the Eucharist. But we've also had good amount of vandalism, of sacred statues and, and some of them really very deliberate and violent. I mean, if somebody was trying to make a point, but, you know, on the one hand we could lament, and that's not really the point here. The point is for us to be encouraged to be strong and to help build up one another. So I mentioned last week with that massive reparation and with the Corpus Christi processions. Sometimes when you see those things happen, people respond with greater fervor and greater strength. And that's always encouraging to me. You know, when you weigh everything out, we have our challenges. And the answer is to be strong, to be clear, not to waver in the truth.
Speaker 2 00:15:00 Like reading from Isaiah speaking, which foretells the coming of Jesus, a bruised reed. He will not break. And a smoldering wick, he will not extinguish, but he will bring forth justice to the nations. We put our trust in him. We remain committed to the truth. But we also recognize that as much as we talk about these things, and it's a, it's terrible rhetoric, and it's not acceptable around the world, we see all kinds of infringements on religious liberties to everyone. I focus in on some of the Catholic bias. I was with the Archbishop of <inaudible>, who's a friend in Nigeria, where he is, the church is very strong. But in the north of Nigeria, there were all kinds of persecutions, kidnappings, and killings. We had the visit of, um, Bishop Sylvia Baez earlier this year here in Florida, exiled from Nicaragua. Meanwhile, his ordinary is in jail or under some kind of detention.
Speaker 2 00:15:55 We see terrible acts against the Catholic church in Venezuela. And we see that in some of the people who are coming this way and the migrants who are coming this way. We see China, and we pray for the church in China because of all kinds of sufferings, not only of Catholics, actually. It's really people of all different faiths. That's right. Who are suffering there. So this week of religious liberty is really for a prayer for greater respect and religious liberty here in the United States. But also we pray for liberty for people all around, around the world.
Speaker 1 00:16:27 This week of religious freedom, I believe used to end on July 4th. Sometimes
Speaker 2 00:16:32 It was called a Fortnite for Freedom. Yeah. So it was a two week, two week thing week event. And that was during a time of very particularly bad legislation. That was where there were attempts to force Catholic institutions to do things against a conscience. And, and that seems to be making its way about, again, we, we see some very troubling legislation right here in New York State in terms of Catholic institutions and abortions, in terms of repercussions against individuals who refuse to participate in abortions. We have some very serious concerns about euthanasia here in New York, and that did not make it through this legislative season, but it's something we're going to have to keep an eye on. So yes, it used to be a Fortnite, and now we kind of focused it into this, this week or this octave,
Speaker 1 00:17:17 I remember the catechism it, paragraph 1776. I don't know. So this was a unique thing when the Fortnite ended on July 4th. It was interesting that the Catholic Catechism, paragraph 1776, speaks of the conscience of man, especially when you're talking about religious freedom. And it says, deep within his conscience, man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself, but which he must obey it's voice ever calling him to love and do what is good, to avoid evil sounds in his heart at the right moment. For man has in his heart a law inscribed by God, his conscience is man's most secret, core and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God, whose voice echoes in his depths. And it was always a beautiful thought to reflect on, on that day as, as like the Fortnite ended, because you'd say, this is what we're talking about. This is your conscience, your freedom, your desire to follow what God has asked us to follow and, and to
Speaker 2 00:18:10 Hold behold it, professor as Catholics and witness to how true. Yeah. Yeah. That's actually very, uh, poignant. I, I'm very familiar, of course, with that citation, but I never made the connection with 1776. Yeah. How
Speaker 1 00:18:22 Interesting. That's my homily most, uh, July 4th.
Speaker 2 00:18:26 That's great. Well, you may see it used again, <laugh>. Also during the course of this week, we celebrate the Feast of John the Baptist. Someone incredibly important to me, at least. I went to St. John, the Baptist High School, St. John's University. Everywhere I go, I'm always, I always find myself hearing from John the Baptist, again, a great witness to the truth. And I love his words, ETUs, behold the lamb, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. And you know, when he had the chance to be popular, you know, people were flocking to him. He said, Nope, I'm not the one. There's another who's coming. And then when Jesus appeared to his disciples, the people who follow him, he pointed to them and he said, go behold the lamb. And so that, that's, that's in the end what we are really all about. And that's something that I think is important for us, even in this striving for religious freedom. It's not about my wishes. It's testifying to the truth that Jesus taught pointing to Jesus who saves
Speaker 1 00:19:23 Bishop. You know, as, as we kind of, uh, enter into this week of religious freedom through our discussions. I mean, what advice would you give to the faithful in terms of, I guess, you know, next steps or action steps, you know, perhaps, uh, for,
Speaker 2 00:19:38 Well, you know, sometimes you can feel as if you're a small, insignificant voice in a crowd. And to a certain extent that's true. But I think there are three things you, we can do. One is pray, and sometimes people think, wow, you know, oh yeah, there's the answer. Pray that that's, that's what you do when you don't know anything else there. No, no, no, no. Because prayer is transformative. Prayer transforms me. It transforms the world around me. Pray. Second thing, and probably one of the bigger things is to be attentive to pay attention. You know, you look at some of the network news or the papers, you're not going to see a lot of these things. You really, really have to pay attention. Or you may see them through political lies. But that's where I, I think a lot of the Catholic media comes in.
Speaker 2 00:20:28 And, you know, I'm so glad coming here for DeSales Media podcast, which by the way, uh, congratulations to the DeSales team. I take no credit for this, but, uh, you and the DeSales team, our Facebook page, which includes this podcast, won first prize for the Facebook page of a bishop. And this recognition is really among a whole array of awards that the sales media, the tablet, uh, net TV won nationwide. And that's, that's the working of all of our team. Congratulations to all and to sales media. But anyway, pay attention to our, our web postings. Pay attention. Be attentive to the tablet. Thank God we have a thriving Catholic newspaper. Pay attention to the tablet and to the net tv, to currents and all the others. So there's a lot of information. So that's the second piece. Be attentive. And then the third thing, again, may sound insignificant, but it's huge.
Speaker 2 00:21:27 Pay attention to the world around you. We, you know, if, if I go out and say, oh, I'm going to change the world, that that's not going to happen. But what I can do is make changes right around me. I think it was, um, Saint Archbishop Romero or St. St. Oscar Romero, one of the most powerful revolutions in the world is the authentic transformation of a human heart. So one by one witness conversion and transformation. That what's going to change? Well, because basically we just do our part. God's the one who really makes it happen. Sure. And so, in that spirit, why don't we turn and ask God's blessing, the Lord be with you and with your spirit. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May he look upon you with kindness and grant you his peace. And may Almighty God bless you, the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen.
Speaker 1 00:22:18 Thanks again for participating in this Dassin podcast, big city Catholics. We hope that you enjoy it and that you'll continue to share it with those around you. Stay tuned for another edition coming up next week. God bless.
