Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 <silence>
Speaker 1 00:00:10 Welcome back to another edition of Big City Catholics Artan podcast with Bishop Robert Brennan, the Bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn, and myself, father Christopher Heu. After a series of on the road podcasts with Bishop Brennan in World Youth Day and throughout Europe, uh, we're back here in the studio to record together and we pray in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. Our Father, who ar in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Speaker 2 00:00:40 Give us the, stay 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.
Speaker 1 00:00:49 Amen. In
Speaker 2 00:00:50 The Amen, the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Bishop,
Speaker 1 00:00:52 It's really been an awesome summer for you and, and our podcasts have really reflected that you've been in World Youth Day. We're able to get a number of podcasts out of that experience. Welcome back to the Diocese After your, your period away.
Speaker 2 00:01:06 It's good to get a chance to get away for a little bit, but boy is it really good to come back and to be at home and to be reconnected with everybody here.
Speaker 1 00:01:14 I've had a nice easy summer because you're hosting in the podcast, you have co-hosts of the podcast. I've been off and relaxing, but it sounded like an incredible, incredible summer. In
Speaker 2 00:01:24 Fact, it was. I mean, really, we've been on the road and so one of the podcasts we had was at Coney Island way back in June where the Catholic schools had their day of of celebration. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> had a chance to talk to some of our Catholic school, eighth grade graduates. Yep. And with Deacon McCormick, the superintendent of schools. We were on the road with the scouts. You and I were there together for that and really a great opportunity to speak with young people at the level of their faith. It wasn't just tell me about this camp. They really shared their faith. Incredible stories. Yeah. And I was impressed by that. And then the National Black Catholic Congress, father Dwayne Davis, one of our priests, was really the coordinator of the youth component of that Congress. And so he brought the ambassadors. We have the Ambassador program, which is a program for young people, a leadership kind of a program, and he brought a delegation from that program down. And so we had the opportunity to speak with them. And then of course, world Youth Day.
Speaker 1 00:02:20 Yeah. These last three episodes have been really dedicated to the World Youth Day. Two of them were the actual celebrations in Lisbon, but then you also had a podcast dedicated to the experience in Fatima. I mean, it was a, a busy time for you and must have been pretty exciting. The DIAM bishop there present maybe a little bit prideful to think, you know, you had 300 and something diocesan pilgrims, another 300 from the Neo Catechumenate way. I think we probably outnumbered all of the other American pilgrims. What would you say?
Speaker 2 00:02:53 Well, Brooklyn has a tradition of being out there in front. I have to confess, I did learn while I was there. There were a few contingents that were somewhat larger than us, so Oh, <laugh> <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:03:03 That's all right. We'll allow it. We'll allow it. That's fine.
Speaker 2 00:03:06 But that all said and done, it's exciting. It's exciting. And one of the things that this summer has taught me as we look back on all of these podcasts is something that I say all the time. Indeed there are far too few young people involved in the life of the church. And that's something of a crisis, something we need to be able to address with a matter of urgency. But those who are involved are very really deeply involved, and we can be impressed with the young people who are living their life inside the community of the church and really trying to do their best to incorporate the gospel of Jesus Christ into their lives and live it in a world where it's not so easy to live. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:03:47 Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:03:47 You know, one of the other things that I often say is World Youth Day. One of the great things about World Youth Day, and you could hear it in those three podcasts, is that we're made to feel alone in what we believe and in who we are. And the world deliberately tries to make us feel isolated as if you're the only one who holds this up. And for a young person that can be really tough. But then to be together with, oh, let's say a million and a half other people who share it with the same enthusiasm. Yeah. Yeah. And look, I'm not kidding myself here. I know it's like the, uh, parable of the sower and the seed. The seed falls into different hearts and grows in different ways. And you know, maybe there are some places where it's going to be very shallow, but in that net, the Lord is going to do great things. And quite honestly, as I look at the life of the church, these experiences, as I look at young adults today, these experiences have a powerful effect on young adults and young families years later.
Speaker 1 00:04:43 Absolutely. I mean, you know, one of the, your interviewers, by the way, Bishop, I think you have a great job as an interviewer, <laugh> of people. You're, you're really becoming a pro at it. But one of the young men that you interviewed named Patrick with the Fatima podcast. Yes. And one of the things he was mentioning was while he was carrying the blessed mother statue or in this procession, he said, yeah, there were a lot of eyes looking toward me. But he had the chance to look out at all of the faces who were really not focusing on him necessarily. He recognized that he had that chance to see the faith in the faces of the people, you know, looking upon this procession. And that, I could tell just by the way he said, it was a life changing experience for him. It just sounded like he was able to internalize, wow, this is a tangible faith that people experience. And he mentioned to see the devotion in their lives and in their faces as they looked upon that procession.
Speaker 2 00:05:38 And that's a great parable for life, isn't it? There's nothing more inspiring than to see the faith being lived authentically. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:05:45 Yeah. And so we pray for the men and women and the youth of our diocese. I mean, as they come back, that they be on fire with this experience. How is the Holy Father, one of of the stories is that the Holy Father was going off script more than usual. I think he was really inspired by the presence of all the youth.
Speaker 2 00:06:04 You could see that he was deeply moved. Yeah. He was moved by seeing the young people. You know, for a lot of people, seeing the Pope really is the highlight of the whole thing. And when I say seeing the Pope, I often think, I don't know how much of what he says people will remember, but they all remem I was this close mm-hmm. <affirmative> to the Holy Father. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, the Pope Mobile came down the pathway right near where I was standing, and he was very generous in going around. So a lot of people could say that, and that left a, a deep impression. But I think like Patrick would say, his seeing the love and the enthusiasm in the young people had to have affected him profoundly.
Speaker 1 00:06:43 It sounded like it. And even his homilies going off script, asking the kids to repeat after him, it just seemed awesome. There
Speaker 2 00:06:51 Was one point at the welcome ceremony, and it's funny, you could see the weariness in his face at the beginning of that, but you just saw that melt away as he heard the different testimonies and had different encounters as young people were welcoming him. And then when he spoke, you're right, he kind of went off script with this, his great images. So he speaks about how God looks upon us, and he looks at us and he loves us without the makeup, <laugh>,
Speaker 2 00:07:15 Without the makeup. He sees us as we are. And then he started this whole chant. He said, repeat after me. Di knows Ahma. God loves us. And people did it. Wow. You can imagine the many people out there in that park together di Ahma, God loves us. And that kind of a thing sticks with somebody. You know, those are the moments that stick. And at the mass too, you could see, you could see it in his face, and you can see the emotions at the end of his homily, he says, I look out and I see all of you. I see all your eyes. And he says, wait a minute. More importantly, it's not I who I'm looking at you, it's Jesus who's looking at you. And he got emotional as he said it, and repeated the love that Jesus has for everyone out there. He says, so don't be afraid. I repeat what Jesus says to you. Don't be afraid. Mm-hmm. It, it was very, very moving. I give him full credit. His messages were powerful. They were succinct. You know, some say that they cut things short because of his health. Well, it really gave more power to the words that he said. And it was genuinely emotional. The Holy Father really did a wonderful job at moving the hearts of our people.
Speaker 1 00:08:32 It was also exciting to see in some of the photos that on your Facebook page that you posted were the Brooklyn priests that were present. There were a great number of, of
Speaker 2 00:08:43 Brooklyn Poetry. Poetry. We had about 17 priests who were present with groups. They weren't there on their own. Of course. Yeah. They were there working, and they, and some of the youth ministers and pastoral ministers in the parishes, a lot of people gave up personal time away from work to help our young people and our priests were among them. And it was a good bonding experience. Yeah. It really was a good time to be together. That's
Speaker 1 00:09:06 Awesome. Sadly, I only have been to One World Youth Day in Australia, which was a great experience in 2008. But I do remember, and I, one of your Facebook videos, your Sunday reflection, you were there at the evening where they come together for that sort of a final dinner, a celebration. How was the mood at, at that experience?
Speaker 2 00:09:24 That too was one of those uplifting moments when you see the resilience of our young people. Because, you know, let me just back up and say, the weather was beautiful through the week, much like it is in New York this week, like low eighties during the day. Bright sunshine, but very dry. It was warm if you stood in the sun, but cool and comfortable if you stood in the shade, except on Saturday and Sunday, the two days that they had to walk a great distance and they walked in nearly 100 degree temperature. Wow. Which even the local said is unusual for Lisbon. And they spent the night out there, they were sleeping on rocky ground, <laugh>, and they got back cleaned up, rested a little bit, and we went out to dinner and they were on top of the world. You would not have known that how rough the last two days had been. <laugh>, they were rejuvenated and really living the joy of the week that, that just experienced
Speaker 1 00:10:15 Heaven, absolutely resilient. And the joy must be contagious. I'd imagine the energy for you to be with them and and to celebrate with them. Bishop, after your time in Lisbon, then you went to a, a place that's very dear to my family's life and my heart. A great place, a great country called Ireland. <laugh>. You were there for, for some period of time. What brought you to Ireland?
Speaker 2 00:10:37 Well, you know, I was back in Ireland in November for a family wedding, and that was a real quick trip. And I ended up not seeing some of the people who I would know were very quickly seeing people running in and running out. And I, I hadn't been to Ireland in many years, and so it was a chance to wet the appetite. A friend of mine in Ireland at that time said, why don't you come back when you go, go over to Lisbon? And that seemed like a good idea. And it really did. You know, there were a number of priests I know who are good friends because they've been coming to parishes in Rockville Center for years and years. Places where I had served, I've been over to visit with them, they to visit with us. But then this time it gave me a chance to reconnect with some friends and also with family.
Speaker 2 00:11:21 I do have a fair amount of family there. It's, it's actually my mother's generation of cousins would be my age and my own generation. They're now emerging young adults. And reconnecting with them is, is just great. And even though you don't see each other, the bonds of family just come alive. And they were incredibly, incredibly generous. So I, I got to a few spiritual exercises in with two of my cousins, an actual cousin, and then the husband of another cousin. We traveled up pro Patrick. That's something I've wanted to do for a while. Yes. It was much more than I imagined it to be. <laugh> <laugh>. It really is mounting climbing
Speaker 1 00:11:59 <laugh> a little longer than you
Speaker 2 00:12:01 Expected. I, I said, oh, you know, take an hour to do it and then visit for a little bit. Oh no, it was, it was a day. It's special because the story behind Kirkpatrick, and it seems to be pretty authentic, is that at the beginning of his missionary journey, he climbed this mountain and spent 40 days in prayer and in preparation for the work that the Lord was calling him to do, this gave me that experience of praying. I brought with me the prayers of the people of Brooklyn and Queens. So there was a, a beautiful spiritual experience. There was the family connection. I thought this would be something easy to do, thank God for the generosity of my cousins, because I don't know that I would've made it alone. They had a lot of wisdom and practical know-how along the way. And so they showed me the right paths and would it be extra careful stepping and all of that.
Speaker 2 00:12:49 And then the other thing is, it's also just a beautiful viewpoint. When we get up to the top, you look out, and at first you could only see in one direction because the mist, the clouds just come right over the mountain. And so I could only look in one direction. And that was nice enough. But before we left, you know how the weather is in Ireland, it changes very quickly. Yeah. And by the time we were ready to go back down, you could see from the other three vantage points. And it was really beautiful. Wow. Wow. It was really beautiful. So that was one of the key moments. And then back in, uh, the Dublin area, I went down to the Wicklow Mountains with a priest friend to Glenda Lock, which is another place that I, that's one that I had visited before, but again, where St. Kevin founded the monastery. And that's just a great place of prayer and reflection. Had some great liturgical experiences celebrating mass at the parish in trim, on the feast of the assumption, celebrating mass in my family's parish, our Lady of Perpetual Help, which is the name of my parish back in Lindenhurst. But to celebrate the parish that, to which my cousins belonged, but my grandfather belonged and all of that family's
Speaker 1 00:13:54 In what county?
Speaker 2 00:13:55 County Sligo in, in the west of county Sligo. Wow.
Speaker 1 00:13:58 Wow. And interestingly, you know, the power of Facebook, my, my mother's on Facebook and she said to me, Bishop Brennan is in Cork at a dinner in Cork. I said, no, he is nodding. How could that be? And there you were. How did you get invited to that? Well,
Speaker 2 00:14:14 I'm friendly with the Bishop of Cork, Bishop Finon Gavin. He used to come to Long Island in his summer, so I've known him for years and years and he's a wonderful person. But another priest and I went down to Father Peter Murphy, a great friend. He had been at St. Agnes for about 30 years. So we went down to see him in Cork. He said, you know, father Jim drew a priest of Rockville Center has a group coming, the Cork Association, which is housed right here in Queens in Long Island City. Yeah. And they're coming for a dinner, and they've asked me to be present, and if he's gonna be present, would I mind or would I be glad to come? And I said yes. I thought it was great. And so it was a dinner of people from Brooklyn and Queens <laugh> together with people from Cork. It was a great evening.
Speaker 1 00:14:56 Awesome. Uh, and so you were still ministering to the people of Brooklyn and Queens, even in Cork in counting Cork now, Bishop, it's exciting. You know, we're back now back in the studio. It's good to be back together in the same continent, in the same time zone. And to just be excited about all the, the stuff that's coming. I know we still have two weeks left or so of summer, but I showed you this morning all of the, the activities that here at the Co Cathedral we're planning for the next three months. Really, it just seems chalk a block with activities, both parochial activities, but also diocesan activities. One that I'm excited to announce on this podcast and to the faithful of Brooklyn, Queens is that the CFRs, the Friars of the Renewal, who have this program called Catholic Underground. It's very popular in, in Manhattan.
Speaker 1 00:15:43 And we've been in contact with them and working with them, collaborating with them. They've agreed to come and do an event Catholic Underground here at the Co Cathedral in September, on September 16th. Uh, it's a Saturday. And the idea simply is, if you've been to one bishop, and I've been to a few myself, is that at 7:30 PM usually late in the evening, you know, they start with a Holy hour. It's a very charismatic, very moving experience. Confessions are available. And then after that, around 8 30, 8 45 at night, you go downstairs for a social with live music, with, with some food, with refreshments. And it's just a great opportunity to come together. I'm super excited to release that and to work with the, uh, CFRs for this. They'll be present here at the Co cathedral. And, and they promised to send some representatives. But it's a very exciting time for us here. But we also have Bishop coming up, more importantly, in October, there's a committee formed, and Father Jino, who's been on our podcast a few times, is excited about this Eucharistic Revival on October 7th, Saturday in Coney Island. This is a very, very exciting day for us.
Speaker 2 00:16:54 It is, and it's part of a whole effort. As you know, we celebrated back in length of 40 days of adoration, the Lenin pilgrimage, that's part of the Eucharistic revival. And now what we want to do is bring it all together. And I'm begging all of you who are listening today, please, we need good weather. Let's pray for good weather, because we're taking a chance and we're going to Coney Island to the Cyclones Field, Mommie Park, and we hope to have a large diocesan mass celebrating together in one place, the gift of the Eucharist, Jesus' gift of himself to us, the greatest gift that we could ever imagine. And so we have a full day planned for that, and we're looking forward to it. It's part of our diocesan phase of the Eucharistic revival. And then the state, New York State will be having one a couple of weeks later. So I'm really looking forward to gathering with the church here in Brooklyn and Queens.
Speaker 1 00:17:48 And our day on October 7th starts really 8:00 AM the gates open. And it's a, a full morning of activities of eucharistic processions youth groups and praise and worship family catechesis. And it concludes with benediction at 3:00 PM So it's really eight in the morning until three in the afternoon. So it's a full day of activities. We're looking forward to that, and we'll talk more about that in the weeks to come.
Speaker 2 00:18:13 Oh, we certainly will. We certainly will. And that'll lead us into the national phase. So that come springtime, there'll be the processions throughout the country, one of which will pass through Brooklyn and Queens. And the procession will go all the way to Indianapolis so that we'll have a delegation. I think we have about 250 spots right now for the national gathering. And so we're looking forward to bringing a strong delegation with us to Indianapolis. Now,
Speaker 1 00:18:41 We've spoken about an event Catholic underground, September 16th. We're talking about the diocesan event October 7th. But just around the corner on August 28th, our cathedral, the St. James Cathedral Basilica is celebrating an anniversary. That's
Speaker 2 00:18:56 Right. So every year, the 28th, it's a feast here in the diocese and the ny in the cathedral itself. We celebrate the anniversary of the dedication of the cathedral, but it really brings to a close the jubilee year, which began on New Year's Day last year. So on January 1st, 1822, the people from Brooklyn asked for the establishment of a parish in Brooklyn, and that would be St. James, I think it's the third oldest parish in New York state. And then from there, they started to build a church, form a cemetery, develop all the things that contribute to the life of a parish. And so on August 28th, 1823, the church, the first Church of St. James was consecrated. And then as subsequent churches would come along, it would be named the diocesan cathedrals. So we closed the Jubilee year on Monday with the celebration of mass, and that'll be on net tv. You remember last year in August, Cardinal Dolan came to celebrate with us this Jubilee experience. So that was the highlight of it last year. So we began on January 1st, kind of had a peak experience last summer, and now we'll conclude more locally on Monday. Awesome.
Speaker 1 00:20:09 Awesome. Bishop, you must be, uh, ready to go for pastoral year. That's coming. And so we pray for a, a blessed year to come and all the activities, all of the excitement, you know, talking with the priests that work within the chancery and that work along, you know, the, a Director of Liturgy, our Director of Father, Alonzo Cox, director of Youth, father Caroli, our superintendent, deacon McCormick, father Dino in the evangelization office, Monsignor Grimaldi or Vicar General. There's so much happening in these next few months, and the excitement is tangible. So we're all ready to go.
Speaker 2 00:20:44 And that couples with some of the internal things. We talked about this earlier in the summer with really now our new vicars and the new vicar structure, so that now parishes and deaneries will be working very closely together. So it is an exciting year to be together.
Speaker 1 00:21:01 Bishop, the conclusion of this podcast, will you lead us in prayer?
Speaker 2 00:21:06 We ask God to bless us and to bless us in the months to come. In a very special way, the Lord be with you
Speaker 1 00:21:12 And with your spirit.
Speaker 2 00:21:13 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 the blessing of Almighty God the Father, and this Son and the Holy Spirit descend upon you and your families and remain with you forever endeavor.
Speaker 1 00:21:27 Amen. Thank you, Bishop. Great to be back together and excited for the new year to come. We hope that you enjoyed listening to this edition of Big City Catholics. You hope that you'll share it on your social media platforms and that you'll continue to tune in each and every week here on Big City Catholics. God bless.
