Episode Transcript
[00:00:10] Speaker A: Welcome back to another edition of our diocesan podcast, Big City Catholics, with Bishop Robert Brennan, the diocesan bishop of Brooklyn, and myself, Father Christopher Henu, the rector of the co cathedral of St. Joseph. Bishop, good to be back together with you. We'll begin in prayer. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
[00:00:34] Speaker B: Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
[00:00:38] Speaker A: In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen. Bishop, most recently this past week, you had a chance to celebrate the mass of thanksgiving and conclusion of the Black History Month, dardas and Mass at Immaculate Conception parish in Jamaica states. You want to tell us a little bit about that celebration?
[00:00:56] Speaker B: I thought it was a wonderful celebration of who we are as Catholics in Brooklyn, Queens. And so to celebrate the black catholic heritage as part of who we are as Catholic, a big part of who we are. And it was great to be there. It's good to be in your third year. So I'm enjoying being in my third year because as I go around now, I see the people who are attending these events, but I see them in their parishes. And one of the things I even mentioned there with this Lenten pilgrimage, I saw a number of people who are making the pilgrimage, who are at the different stops along the way. I joked, I said, on Sundays, you're off, you go to your own parish. But this one, they were all there together with us in Jamaica. So a lot of our pilgrims who I meet along the way, it's really very enjoyable to now connect with people who you feel very much at home with because they're so welcoming, so good. And that was the spirit at the Mass on Sunday.
[00:01:51] Speaker A: These are particularly the leaders of their parishes, of their own ethnic groups. One thing that was celebrated on Sunday at the Black History Month Mass was the diversity of the Black Catholics here in our diocese. And so beautiful celebration in the beginning, if you recall, was the procession of the flags, that this is not just multiple smaller groups celebrating their own cultural heritage, but that as black Catholics of the diocese, they come together. So you would have noticed, I'm sure.
[00:02:23] Speaker B: Exactly. So just like every other group in Brooklyn, every group has another level of diversity within it. And so when we speak of black Catholics in the Diocese of Brooklyn, we're speaking certainly of Catholics of african ancestry, families who've been here for generations, whose families were part of the fabric of Monsignor Quinn, for example, who founded some of our parishes right here in Brooklyn and Queens. But now, too, we have many from Haiti and many from the caribbean, different caribbean communities. And then we have several different african communities. I know Nigeria is a large one, Ghana is another large one, and Zimbabwe. It really was nice to see the unity in diversity, the coming together as black Catholics, celebrating heritage, but celebrating many different heritages.
[00:03:12] Speaker A: In this week's edition of the tablet, there's a statistic that I found quite beautiful, but also one that I never had heard before, that the Diocese of Brooklyn claims to have the largest group of black Catholics in the whole country of the United States. And also we have the most black catholic priests of any other diocese in the country. And some of them were represented, certainly, celebrating at the mass. And you and I were talking just about the different roles in which they played.
[00:03:40] Speaker B: All of them, in one way or another, are serving in parishes. So some are pastors, some are associates, some serving in particular apostolates, like maybe the haitian apostolate or the Caribbean Apostolate, or the ghanaian apostolate or the Nigerian Apostolate. But the other thing is, we have something like in our tribunals or judicial Veca, our deans. I'm really grateful for the many ways that the black catholic community is so generous in service to the church, so faithful, and sometimes in spite of deep wounds and pains and sorrows. But incredible, incredible generosity and fidelity, fidelity to the gospel of Jesus Christ, fidelity to the faith of the church. I love the energy in the monsignor Bernard J. Quinn guild, the passion to see Monsignor Quinn canonized at some point or another, if it be God's will, because that canonization is really a discernment process. It's not just check off the boxes, but that faithfulness shows itself in a unity in prayer and a unity in mission.
[00:04:53] Speaker A: And that energy and that enthusiasm also is clear in the music. Boy, I really.
[00:04:59] Speaker B: Roman choir, they sang at the mass. I know that they're really now more involved in the parish of St. Bonaventure, St. Benedict, the more they brought us a great vitality, as they have in the past. Some of the songs, we've come this far by faith, and it's just so uplifting and you know what? And so prayerful. I find myself being drawn very, very deeply into prayer as I hear the words in the music that just kind.
[00:05:23] Speaker A: Of washes over the homilies for the celebration seemed to have tied in music into the beginning of his homily. And then at the end of his homily. And it led the homily from the beginning. And then, as he concluded, the song seemed to sort of tie up or wrap up the homily. It was a unique experience for me to experience songs in the midst of the homily. What's your take on that? I mean, it's a beautiful experience.
[00:05:46] Speaker B: No, it is. It's very powerful. It's proclaiming the word. I mean, it works in the cultural context, and I found it extremely moving. So one of the things the harmless spoke about was the importance of our catholic schools and lamenting over the course of years the closing of different schools. And that is the point of real sadness when a school closes. One of the things I'm always grateful for here is with the work of futures, that we can try to keep things going. But it's a loss when a school is closed. It pains a community, it pains the church, and there's no getting around that. I was struck by the presence of the youth. So we had a great number of young people there from the ambassador program, but not only. Not exclusively. I know, again, a couple of the younger people who I know from their parishes, who, again, are very faithful altar servers, very faithful lectures and in service to their parishes who've been at some of the different events. I was struck, though, by the ambassadors. They are a high energy group. I had the chance to be with them last summer in Maryland for the National Black Catholic Congress, and some of them were on the trip to World Youth Day. And then a couple of others were with us at the Sikh conference. Some of the older ones who were in college, some of the former members of the ambassadors who are now in college came with us to the Sikh conference. By focus, they're a lot of fun to be around, but you know what? They're really hard workers. They were working that day to greet people, to get them set up. I offered my appreciation to them at the end of the mass. And then I'm looking at. As I'm talking, I'm saying, I don't see them. And it turns out, yeah, I didn't see them. I was thanking them. But they were already downstairs setting up for the food that would follow. They were already working. So they're great. The ambassadors, as you know, are. It's a leadership program, and Father Duane Davis coordinates it. But young people from several different parishes in the black communities come together. There's prayer and there's formation. They talk to people in various walks of life. It's about building up leadership and really discovering within themselves, that capacity to live lives of selfless service. And they're always upbeat and joyful and, like I say, very generous. They have their event coming up. They have their dinner. I'm humbled by this. They're honoring me, among others. That's real nice that the young people would make that gesture. So that's something that really means an awful lot.
[00:08:09] Speaker A: I was struck, too, by the familiarity with which they greeted you when you were down in the vestibule area before mass. Hey, Bishop, how's it going? And they're just, like, very familiar, in a good sense, with you and joy filled youth.
[00:08:23] Speaker B: It speaks to who they are. They're, like I said, well formed, good, generous young people. A real model for all of us, for the know, one of the things we celebrated that day is black history. Well, one of the themes of the Congress back in the summer is that history is being written now for the future generations. So take up the pen. Take up the pen and start writing the history. We're the ones writing the history today. It's our turn. We've heard it. Legacies of faith in so many ways, and now we pick up the charge. It's our turn. And what are the stories we're going to be telling? What are the contributions we're going to make to the world around us? That's why it's so important that we have the young people part of all of this. The other thing is, we were at the passionist monastery for the celebration at Immaculate Conception in Jamaica, and two of the people helping us with the mass were a deacon for the passionist community who will be ordained a priest for the passionists in June in Puerto Rico, and then another young man from Haiti who's just beginning the seminary for the passionists. So glad to see again young people. There are young people from all of our communities in Brooklyn, Queens. These were from other communities, but there are young people who are responding to God's call. And while I wish it were a whole lot more, I'm so impressed and so glad for the vocations that I see for the people who are being formed, who I've gotten to know and see, and for the people from our diocese who are in formation in different religious communities and in our own diocese.
[00:09:56] Speaker A: My spiritual director in college would always say, and you're sure you've heard it, there's no vacation from a vocation, right when we'd go on summer break. But last week, our students were on vacation, walking through the Lenten pilgrimage. This week, they're back in school, and you're having a chance to go and visit, you know.
[00:10:12] Speaker B: So last week was the first full week of our Lenten pilgrimage, and it was wonderful. I've enjoyed all the stops so far, but there were a few places in an ordinary year that I would have kind of combined it with a school visit or maybe a religious ed visit. Places would have included the school children or religious ed in it. And last week that wasn't so possible. So this week actually turns out that a few of the places I'm at are also school visits. So it's been a fun week. One of the places actually had a rally, a youth rally, for middle school students from all of the area. So when school is in session, it does give you a different flavor for parochial life, both in the school and in the religious ed. I will confess to this, though. When school is not in session, you can see a big difference in the traffic.
So I confess that I do love midwinter recess.
[00:11:03] Speaker A: You get to those parishes a little quicker.
[00:11:06] Speaker B: A little quicker, exactly.
[00:11:08] Speaker A: Well, we'll be traveling all through the diocese in the month of March. Now, as we enter, our journey takes.
[00:11:13] Speaker B: Us like, this week was kind of the northern area of Queens that we're going to be coming around, like, to the middle and southern section and then working our way back into Brooklyn. It's kind of like a circle. It's kind of like a. You know, the idea of pilgrimage is to walk. It's to walk. It's partly discipleship. It reflects our lives. Ultimately, our life is a pilgrimage. Right. We have a destination. We're making a pilgrimage, a journey toward heaven, and making the most of it in a positive way, making the most of it along the way. What does a pilgrimage involve? Involves a lot of adjusting, dealing with turns and the twist and the overcrowding. It means making do and adjusting. But pilgrimages I've been on are also a lot of fun. Sure, it's a lot of fun being with some of the people. It involves building up relationships with one another. It involves helping one another along the way or encouraging each other along the way. Ultimately, it's about the encounter with Jesus. And this year, the readings for Lent kind of focus our eyes on seeing Jesus. We had the transfiguration last week where Jesus was transfigured before Peter, James, and John. And I love that line. And after it was all over, they looked up and they saw only Jesus standing alone. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. This week we have the cleansing of the know. We have the ten Commandments in the first reading. It's the encounter with Jesus. Jesus is the new temple. Jesus is God's presence, not a building. Jesus is God's presence on earth. And so our readings kind of focus us in on the person of Jesus Christ. To walk in faithful discipleship. This life is a pilgrimage. So I had the chance to talk a little bit with the kids about pilgrimages and about their experience and why this really does matter to us.
[00:13:03] Speaker A: Bishop, when this podcast releases on Friday, the next day, Saturday, you'll be doing a smaller, smaller pilgrimage walking the streets of Rockaway.
[00:13:11] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:13:11] Speaker A: Congratulations to you being named as the gale of the year for the Rockaway parade. And I know that march is going to bring a lot of St. Patrick's Day celebrations. We can talk more about that later in the month.
[00:13:22] Speaker B: I used to say when I was on Long island, you could go the entire month of march without abstaining. If you sought dispensations for every lunch and dinner along the way, I don't recommend that. I'm not a proponent of it, but oh, you're right. This is the month.
[00:13:36] Speaker A: This is the month. We'll gain our strength for that. And congratulations to you again on that honor. Bishop, perhaps you'd like to lead us in a closing prayer.
[00:13:44] Speaker B: By all means. During these days of Lent, not only on the Sundays, but also on the weekdays, the church gives us a very short blessing at the end of mass. There are blessings that you can always give, and there's a section where you can choose some blessings, some of the three fold blessings with the three amens, but sometimes just a prayer over the people. And in the days of Lent, the third edition of the roman myth gives us the prayers over the people each day for Lenten, and they're sometimes kind of stark. So we'll pray the prayer that the church gives us for this coming Sunday. The Lord be with you and with your spirit direct. O Lord, we pray the hearts of your faithful, and in your kindness grant your servants this grace that abiding in love of you and their neighbor. They may fulfill the whole of your commands through Christ our Lord.
[00:14:34] Speaker A: Amen. The Lord be with you and with your spirit.
[00:14:37] Speaker B: Almighty God bless you, the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[00:14:42] Speaker A: Amen. Thank you again for joining us on this edition of Big City Catholics. We hope that you'll join us again next week and each week as we come together to discuss what's new in our diocese. God bless.
