Episode Transcript
[00:00:10] Speaker A: Welcome back to another edition of our diocesan podcast, big city catholics with bishop Robert brennan, the bishop of the diocese of Brooklyn, and myself, father Christopher Henny. We'll begin this podcast as we begin all things in prayer. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
[00:00:24] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:00:25] Speaker A: It our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
[00:00:31] Speaker B: 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.
[00:00:40] Speaker A: In the name of the Father, Son and amen. Today we wanted to spend some time talking about what's going on in the diocese, but also on the Universal Church. This month begins a very special time in our Church, jam packed with news reports from the Vatican, from the Holy Father. First, we started with a consistory of the new cardinals created in our Church and our very own papal Nuncio, Archbishop now Cardinal Christophe Pierre. Did you watch any of that celebration?
[00:01:07] Speaker B: What I did is I read the Homily of the Holy Father online, and then I know those videos are still out there, so I probably will get a chance to see that. But Saturday was the day of the convocation, was a ritual day. We had the gathering of our ACA, the Court of Honor, and it was a great chance to see many of the people of our diocese. And then Saturday also I had confirmation, so things are picking up, so I'll get to the video. But in the meantime, I did pay attention very carefully to his word, because with the beginning of the Synod that begins this week and the installation of our new vicars on Wednesday, and so as we sit here and record on Tuesday, I'm still preparing. But really it all ties in with the Synod, because what happens at the Synod is the Father asked us to walk hand in hand with each other, that we're all united in this walk with Jesus, that we walk together with each other, but all of us are walking together with Jesus Christ. He's encouraging us to walk together and to listen to one another. And that becomes the overarching theme. Last week we had a gathering of all of our priests. We had the priest convocation, and that too was a chance for us to walk together and listen together. As we look at some of the ways we operate on some of the ways that we have to cooperate, as we look at some of the demographic changes in Brooklyn and in Queens, we realize we need to connect with one another. We need to cooperate with one another. We need to form Parish partnerships in different ways, in different places. As you know, you go through the different neighborhoods of the deaneries, the realities are very different from one to another. So how can we continue to work together to maintain that strong Catholic presence?
[00:02:54] Speaker A: And really, as you mentioned, the great example that our Holy Father used of the orchestra, we're playing in unison and symphony with one another, listening to one another. One is not overpowering the other, but we're uniting together to create a beautiful.
[00:03:08] Speaker B: And that's what we do know. It's funny, he used at the consistory the Pentecost image, which to me describes Brooklyn and Queens so much. He says each of us, we are Parthians, we are medes, and he goes through all the different nationalities and yet each of us hears the gospel in our own native tongue. Even though Peter was one person preaching through the power of the Holy Spirit, each person heard the joy of the gospel, the splendor of truth, the words that Peter was preaching, they each heard it in a way that each could understand it in their own language. And this thing where Parthians were mes were from this country, that country, all different language. Wow. Isn't that Brooklyn and Queens? Sure, but yet it's one gospel. And so that was a beautiful image, the symphony. We all have our parts, we all play, we all make our contribution. But if you only listen to the violin parts in an orchestra, it doesn't sound right because it's not just playing the harmony or I think of a choir. When I was in a choir, it was so frustrating. You'd get a part, maybe you'd be the tenor part. It doesn't sound like the song that you know the song, right? You don't just sing the song, you're singing certain notes. But when it all comes together, it's beautiful. Same with the symphony, with the instruments. You don't just listen to yourself. That's what he said. We can't just be listening to ourselves. We're in this peace together.
[00:04:29] Speaker A: And that's sort of as you relate what we begin on a universal church level, the Synod on Synodality. Our own representatives from the United States have arrived in Rome and to participate in this, they begin in prayer for a few days first before they begin even these conversations, which teaches us a lot as well on a local level. But as you said beautifully, it ties in with what's happening in our diocese with the creation of these new Episcopal vicars.
[00:04:54] Speaker B: It happens by coincidence that the day of the installation is the opening day of the mass of the synod. But it really is opportune because we are doing the same thing. You know, I began here just as we were doing the local phase of the synod. And Bishop Dimasio, I'll always be grateful to him for this, had set up the different deanuary conversations. And it was my way of getting to know the diocese. It was wonderful. It was so good to go around to the different parishes to hear people and we talked about our hopes, our dreams and our concerns, our hopes and our dreams for the future of the church here in Brooklyn and Queens. Our concerns, the challenges that we face, the changing demographics, concerns about economics, the concerns about physical buildings, the concerns about catechesis. There were four overarching concerns. This is all in these synod documents. One here in Brooklyn, Queens. As we talked about synod, people were concerned. First, they want to be part of the conversation. That's something we were talking about with our priests at the Convocation. People want to be part of the conversation. Now, of course, not everybody has their way about everything, but we need to listen to one another and understand what the needs are. Second, along the same lines, there was an awful lot of talk about communication at every level. Some of the delegates talked about how in their parishes, they said we need to have better communication within the parish structure itself. When we're a parish with whether it be many different ethnic communities or many different age communities, it's easy to bump up against one another. We need to be able to communicate within the parish better, to establish better streams of communication. But likewise, between the diocesan offices and the parishes, communication was a key theme in the descendant of preparations. Third thing adult ongoing faith formation. It was almost like a script. People said we're not comfortable sharing our faith because I'm not sure if I know it well enough. These were faithful people, these are not people who are only tangentially involved. People have that desire to go deeper and to know that faith better. And what we want to do is translate that to a deepening of a relationship with Jesus Christ. And then the fourth one is the perennial one, our youth. We had other themes where sometimes people brought about things, about being welcome, but it all fits into those conversations. So lots of things came up and some were more prevalent in one area or another. But those four themes participation, communication, catechesis and youth, those were the themes that really came up. So as we move toward our vicars, you mentioned the vicars, we have the installation of the vicars we're going back to for vicariates. Part of it was practical. I was asking pastors to stay on as Pastors MP vicar's. And so just practically speaking, it's easier if you have a smaller area. But having that closer bond, those smaller areas, does help with the communication. So that's one thing that we're trying to work on with the syndicate, is how can we build that up? We've worked on the Prispital council, having representatives from the area so that we can build those communications. We are looking to increase the participation in the diocesan pastoral council. And in order to do that, we want to try to build up parish pastoral councils and maybe even deenery councils. So that's one area that we are trying to work on, our communication. Again, we have to do the work at the local level, but we have to do it at every level. And then participation, that's the other thing with these communication, but also with the new vicars, as we look to the new challenges of the Church, as we look to the ways that we can work together, but to build on who we are as Catholics. That's what I'm hoping to address with the new vicars.
[00:08:37] Speaker A: It certainly gets us working together, as.
[00:08:40] Speaker B: You say, as a team and listening to one another.
[00:08:43] Speaker A: That's right. And that's the hope of the success of this is that everyone would participate in it fully 100%. At times we can maybe think, oh, this is just one more council or one more. But no, this is an opportunity for us to come together locally in larger groups and then on a diocesan wide, so that the communication flows both ways from the local level to your office and from your office down to the local level.
[00:09:07] Speaker B: In the end, I know I have to take responsibility for what we end up doing in different places, but that needs to be informed. I need to make informed decisions. And I think, as the Pope is asking us to do, we're walking together. We're not just going through a program, we're walking together, listening to one another and then taking the right steps so that we can build on the presence of the church right here in Brooklyn and Queens.
[00:09:34] Speaker A: Bishop, in terms of walking together, I heard recently you had quite a did.
[00:09:39] Speaker B: You know when I was pastor in Long Beach, the Peruvian community in October would celebrate Senor de los Milagros. And that always was a big procession through the streets. I knew that there was one in Brooklyn and Queens. I think there is one in Brooklyn, there's one in Queens at St. Sebastian's. And so this year I got to celebrate that. It's a long walk, but we don't go very far. So first we had the Mass de los Milagros and basically the image that we carry is an image that was preserved through earthquakes and different sufferings in Peru, the image of the Lord of Miracles. It's a trinitarian image, father and Holy Spirit, but then Jesus crucified. So I celebrated the Mass of Senor de los Milagoros and then we had our procession on Sunday through the streets of woodside. But they carry it's a huge it's called an. Anda this stand, it takes many men and women, they do have a couple of times where the women carry it, but it takes many men, they carry it's very, very heavy. And the walk is more like a dance. So you take a few steps forward, a few steps this way, and then it stops and then it goes again. So I would say it's about 3 hours. Wow. It doesn't cover a lot of ground, but it's a lot of devotion. In the meantime, a lot of the hymns and the prayers and they hold the children up to the image, asking God's blessing on the children. And then at the end, when we got to the school at St. Sebastian's, they had two really very good dances to do, the Peruvian dance. But even with the anda that's a dance, they carry it around on their shoulders while they're doing this circular motion. It really is quite amazing, but it's a sign. And it's taking what we do. We walk together with each other. We're spending a lot of time with each you know, 3 hours is a different kind of a procession. We're listening to one another. We're celebrating our faith, and we're witnessing to our faith out in the streets of Woodside.
[00:11:34] Speaker A: Now, I know secondhand that you had had this procession because my parents were driving through woodside on the day and apparently there was a lot of cars.
[00:11:45] Speaker B: Yes. And we're so grateful to the police and to the community that this is allowed to happen. So grateful for the goodness and the patience of people and the police who help us out.
[00:11:55] Speaker A: Amen. It sounds like an incredible experience, really. And again, another one of those moments where you say it sums up this.
[00:12:02] Speaker B: Idea of walking together, people from many different languages, many different cultures, but we're all celebrating the same faith. And that's the richness of who we are. There's the diversity, but there's also the unity. I often go back to a prayer in the old missile. How wonderful are the works of the Holy Spirit revealed in so many gifts, yet how marvelous is the unity that the Spirit creates from their diversity, dwelling in the hearts of his children and filling the world with his presence. Beautiful. And then I mentioned how the police were very helpful to us and kept us safe. On Monday, I had a great privilege. Cardinal Dolan had invited me several months ago to preach at the Guardian Mass on the Feast of the Angels, to offer the homily. And that was to thank and to honor the different police departments from every level, city, state and federal, but serving here in the five boroughs and uniting the five boroughs. So we do things with the Holy Name Society in Brooklyn, we do things with the Holy Name Society in Queens, but here it was the five boroughs coming together for this Guardian Mass. He invited me to preach at it. But then, because the Cardinal was called on to go to Rome for the Synod, he was originally just an alternate, but he got pressed into service. I actually offered that mass. And as we've spoken about many times before, coming from a family where my father was in law enforcement, two of my brothers were in law enforcement. And then I have a sister working in support in the federal government and a nephew in support. It's part of who I am. So I was truly honored to be able to celebrate that mass with the police and the different federal and state agencies. Beautiful.
[00:13:41] Speaker A: You've been keeping very busy, Bishop With.
[00:13:44] Speaker B: And next weekend, Ricardo invited me to offer the Mass on Columbus Day. I won't be preaching at that, but I have that Mass. And so the Mass and the parade. So these are great days. These are great days.
[00:13:53] Speaker A: As we sort of conclude this podcast themed of walking with and listening, especially in light of the synod and what's happening here in our own diocese, I'd like to raise some awareness for our listeners of an article that you've published and will be published in this week's edition of our diocesan newspaper, The Tablet, addressing the issue of immigration and our.
[00:14:16] Speaker B: Recently arrived asylum and its effect here in the Brooklyn and Queens area. Yes, the column itself is based on some of our conversations in our podcast that have been discussed in prior sessions. Now, I tried to gather it together, and really we talk about the reality of the newly arrived migrants, the newly arrived silent seekers here in New York. The stresses that the arrival of so many people at one point is putting on the system. Some of the concerns of people here in the New York City area about the chaos at the border and about the stress on the services in this area are very valid concerns. And it concerns me when those get dismissed, when people are dismissed for raising very legitimate concerns. And that needs to be respected. We do need to look at that. At the same time, some of the chaos at the border is not compassionate. We're putting people into situations that are dangerous, where children are being lost, where there are security issues. So the chaos at the border is not a good thing. The idea of having some kind of border security and some kind of system is valid. On the other hand, there are some things that have been said that are uncalled for. And so what is the Church's involvement? We meet people where they are. We answer the gospel call. When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat. The Lord tells us, when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. And we have to meet people in their needs. And I'm so proud of our parishes that have mobilized together to do that, in the local areas where some of the shelters are that have been resilient and nimble trying to meet the needs as they arrive. And I'm proud of our Catholic Charities that have been offering these needs. And of course, a lot of the people who are arriving are our people. They're coming to our masses. They're seeking spiritual nourishment as well. They're our brothers and sisters in the Lord. So to feed and to clothe and to meet human needs is not taking a political position.
[00:16:26] Speaker A: You mentioned right in the midst of your column. Some people misinterpret the Church's care for individuals and groups as an endorsement of the conditions that have led to their arrival. And it's not an endorsement, but it's a care for.
[00:16:39] Speaker B: If anything, we've been calling for comprehensive immigration reform and it has the both ends. You see, the Catholic position is always both ends. So, yes, we do need better border security. The chaos is not good. But we also need to care for those who are here. We also need a generous immigration system. We depend on the newly arrivals. We're a nation that's built on immigrants. Our own experience in Brooklyn and Queens is so rich with people who've come from different cultures and how we've brought that all together like an orchestra. So it's the both end. We need the security, but we also need to have a generous policy and an orderly policy. People say, well, we should have legal immigration. Exactly. But trying to get through that system today, it's nearly impossible. We have a hard time dealing with it, trying just to get priests to have valid permits to serve the local immigration community. So the church cries out, yeah, they're both end. But what's at the heart of it? Human dignity and solidarity. Human dignity, we see human people created in the image and likeness of God. Solidarity, Pope St. John Paul II tells us, is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good. We stand together. It's the dignity of the individual human person, but the commitment to standing together.
[00:17:56] Speaker A: And we will continue to do just that. And so, Bishop, it's a lot on our plate and a lot to do, certainly, but with the grace of God.
[00:18:05] Speaker B: God's grace is always present, right? And again, God brings about that sense of unity, especially in our proclamation of the faith that Jesus Christ is Lord.
[00:18:14] Speaker A: So you can certainly read Bishop's column in this week's edition of the diocesan newspaper, The Tablet, and will be published as well in our diocesan Facebook page and your own Facebook page as well, Bishop. Perhaps you'd like to end with a prayer?
[00:18:28] Speaker B: We conclude with our prayer for the synod and for our own local church. We stand before You, Holy Spirit, as we gather together in Your name, with you alone to guide us, make yourself at home in our hearts, teach us the way we must go and how we are to pursue it when we are weak and sinful. Do not let us promote disorder, do not let ignorance lead us down the wrong path, nor partiality influence our actions. Let us find in you our unity, so that we may journey together to eternal life and not stray from the way of truth and what is right. All this we ask of you who are at work in every place and time in the communion of the Father and the Son, forever and ever. Amen. And may Almighty God bless you. The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
[00:19:13] Speaker A: Amen. Thank you, Bishop. Always a pleasure to join you in our diocesan podcast, Big City Catholics. We hope that you enjoyed listening to this edition and will continue to follow us in future podcasts. You can find it on all major streaming platforms and shared on our diocesan and Bishop Brennan's Facebook page. God bless you and see you next week. It's.
