Episode Transcript
[00:00:10] Speaker A: Welcome, my friends, to the latest episode of Big City Catholics, Bishop Brennan's podcast for our diocese and really for the whole world. My name is Deacon Kevin McCormick. I'm the superintendent of schools for our diocese, and I lost my voice last night at the event, the great futures and education gala. We're going to speak about that and education in general. So it's a real honor that you're with us and you enjoy your time with us now. And as usual, let's start with a prayer. We begin knowing that we're always in the presence of our God. Holy Father, you bring us to a particular place at a particular time to do a particular work, and we give thanks for the great things that are happening in our diocese, especially in our schools. In so many ways, Lord, it's the best of times and it's the worst of times, but we know that you, with the Holy Spirit, guide us through it all, continue to us to recognize your blessing in all that we do, and we ask this in your name. Amen.
[00:01:02] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:01:03] Speaker A: So, bishop, how are you feeling today?
[00:01:05] Speaker B: I'm feeling pretty good. I'm feeling pretty good. But we did have a wonderful evening. We're recording this episode on Wednesday, the day after the futures in education gala. So I think we're all, you know, I say writing the crest of the wave, because we have so many good and generous people who are supportive of catholic education, who love the kids, and we just had a nice time together yesterday.
[00:01:29] Speaker A: It was wonderful. Let's look at the stats. We had 740 people in Cipriani's in Wall street, and I think we may have snuck a few more in there, but I'll keep to the right number. As of this moment, on Wednesday, we have registered $1.5 million raised. That goes right to our kids. One third of our kids in the diocese receive funding from futures in education. $1.5 million. And I suspect, Bishop, we're going to see that inch up a little bit. The time together, we celebrated our teachers. Virtually every school brought a teacher to celebrate them, and they were at the center of this. Our two honorees were men of great generosity and great support of what we do. All in all, it was just a great night.
[00:02:08] Speaker B: It was in every way. David Ushery from Channel Four News was our emcee, and I've seen him professionally, of course, but I've never really had a chance to sit down and talk with him. It was great to meet him, but, boy, didn't he do a great job as MC.
[00:02:26] Speaker A: He was wonderful. I know David from my time when I was with Rabbi Potazzek on religion on the line, over the twelve years I was on the show, David was a regular guest, and he's a faithful son of the church. He's involved in his church.
I think we said he was a knight of Malta. He's someone who understands the faith and is very important to us. He's also very funny and he's got the whole Brooklyn vibe down. It was very, very good. It was just a. It was a way to celebrate us at our best. I think it was a dignified and joyful night.
[00:02:55] Speaker B: Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, we had some fun, but we also did some work. People really responded, so that's great. One of our schools was featured, St. Bart's, part of their theatrical performance for.
[00:03:11] Speaker A: Beauty and the Beast. The kids were so nervous, and so I went in with them and they said, can you give us a blessing? So I said, of course I can. And then one kid said, do you think you could up it and get the bishop to give us a blessing? I said, we can up that, no problem. You're very generous. Get right into it.
[00:03:24] Speaker B: And it was good to see them before.
[00:03:25] Speaker A: It was really cool.
[00:03:26] Speaker B: It was really cool.
[00:03:27] Speaker A: And then one of the girls sang the national anthem as well.
[00:03:30] Speaker B: Beautifully. Yeah, she did a wonderful job.
[00:03:32] Speaker A: It was great that we highlighted our kids and our teachers, because that's what our schools are. As much as I'd like to believe, this is not true, in 20 years, no one's going to remember I was the superintendent. But for the rest of their lives, these children are going to remember miss so and so, mister so and so, who were their teachers, who guided them through very difficult times in their life. Everybody has difficult time when they're young kids. And our teachers are just phenomenal at that.
[00:03:53] Speaker B: They really are. They really are. And there was a sense of excitement. We had a chance to greet the teachers before we took the proverbial picture. It's not valid unless a photo is. Exactly, exactly.
[00:04:03] Speaker A: I'll tell you, this is a little inside baseball. So John Nataro and Lauren McCormick from futures, they ran the thing. They did a great, great, great job. On a personal note, very proud of Lauren. She did. I was very, very proud of her. So they say, Kevin, you're gonna have to read the names. And I'm not good at that. I don't pronounce names well, that I don't understand. I don't know. And I went into a cold sweat. So Joan McMaster, our vice, our deputy superintendent, took over flawlessly. I mean, she's just a woman of grace. She said, now I know your weak points. Now I got you.
But it was so good. It was really very wonderful.
[00:04:34] Speaker B: Well, that's a funny story. It does reflect something that is true of our experience here in the diocesan office, is certainly in the education office. So you speak about Joan. She knows your weakness. That's where we're strongest, that we really complement each other 100%. We don't all have to do everything or be good at everything. And we're not looking for clones of ourselves, but we have people who really shine in varied ways and do just a great job for the mission.
[00:05:05] Speaker A: Here comes everybody, right? That's Joyce's definition of a church. Here comes everybody. And you see that not only in the school's office, which our team does great things, futures, they do great things. The diocese in general, we compliment each other well. And I think we've. In the last two years, we've really developed a team that understands the mission, understands their lanes, but understands also the support we give each other. So, I mean, we're here to talk about schools, but I think it's important to realize the foundation of which the schools sit. And they sit with a pastoral leadership, with ecclesiastical leadership, financial responsibility, all of that comes together. And I really do think we're on the verge of a renaissance for great things in our catholic education.
[00:05:43] Speaker B: And we have committed boards, and we're trying to build those up in our academies, people who are really committed, again to the mission. It gets harder as time goes on, because we're asking fewer people to do more things. Hopefully, we'll be able to expand that pool. There are many good people around here in Brooklyn and Queens who do share that passion for catholic education. It's an interesting thing. Now, I've seen this in Rockville center, I've seen it in Columbus, and I see it here. Catholic education isn't a cause you have to sell very much. There are many people who experience that gift, and they say they recognize what an impact their catholic education had on their lives. They want to see that available for a new generation, but also available for people, regardless of financial status.
[00:06:41] Speaker A: When you look at what a catholic school is supposed to do, we are supposed to guarantee the fact that we have the best academics. That's a given. And we strive for that and make sure that we're above local and diocesan and even state levels. If you get a catholic education, when we were young men, when we were kids, that was a hallmark. If you were a catholic educated kid, you knew that it also has to be a place of respected and dignified discipline. It can't be capricious. It can't be something that's off the wall. It's always realizing that kids, sometimes they're going to be appropriately inappropriate and to deal with them and to give them opportunities to grow. But when our bread and butter is bishop, and you've heard me say this often, is that we develop a catholic imagination. We use the catholic identity we use. We're nourished by the sacraments. We're edified by the scriptures. We understand the magisterium. All of that's part of what we teach our kids. But if they don't internalize it and give them the ability to have a lens to see the world where grace abides, I like abide better than remain. Last week's gospel and this week's gospel I wish we had kept abide. But we abide with that imagination, that grace abounds. And that means in the midst of terrible struggles on university campuses, it means when we're with a dying parent or grandparent, it means when we're struggling to find a job, it means we're rejoicing at the celebration of our 15 or 16 year old, when we get new jobs, when we hold our children, our grandchildren, the grace abides through it all.
[00:08:06] Speaker B: That's right. And it takes that sense of vision, that ability to see past the superficial layers, to see deep into the reality. And that's where our schools can help to develop that vision, to train that vision so to look more deeply. The catholic imagination, as you say. I often put it this way. I say to see things as they really are and not just as they seem to be. I think our schools do a great job at that, to think critically, but with the critical lens of the gospel, to say the gospel calls us to a different way of living and seeing. That's a great gift. This podcast, I've said this kind of recently, in fact, I never imagined it being a great teaching tool or evangelization tool. I don't see it as some kind of a celebrity thing, but it, it's rooted in experience of just an opportunity to talk with the people of the diocese. It's just a chance for us to be able to speak from the voice, kind of like the old fireside chat. And so we've been able to get together to talk about some of the fun things, some of the tremendous successes, to talk about the exciting things that we encounter as we, we live the faith. But we've also been together a few times to talk about some of the difficult things, some of the challenges that come our way. That's what this is about. It's a chance for us to be real, to be realistic, and honestly to be real. So, you know, you mentioned at the beginning in your prayer, you spoke about the best of times and the worst of times. And so while we're riding the crest of the wave, in many ways, we're seeing some great promise and great hope. We have our challenges, too.
[00:09:51] Speaker A: This week we're announcing the fact that three of our schools have to close. St. Matthias and Ridgewood, St. Catherine, St. Therese in East Flatbush and Salvia Regina in east New York. These are very venerable. The last two have been around for a very, very long time. And St. Matthias has also a very, very long tradition of serving our catholic population. They have a history that is truly, truly awesome. At the same time, in the last several years, especially since COVID we find a precipitous drop in enrollment. When you lose enrollment, you lose income, which means an increase of deficit.
In the cases of all three schools, we were looking at significant six figure deficits that couldn't be sustained this year for two of the schools we worked and we had a project, we called for changing schools, but my shorthand was Lazarus schools, schools that in past would have closed. But we gave them a chance for the Keating and our people. With the cease grants, we worked hard. We were able to give them substantial grants and extra administrator work with them, and we tried the best we could. We had five schools involved in this. Three continue to thrive and will be open next year and are growing, and two just couldn't make it. Here's the thing, though, Bishop, it's not. We can say like, the board didn't do right job or the principal didn't do a good job, or the pastor did a good job, or the office didn't do a good job. Just time to change and neighborhoods change.
[00:11:14] Speaker B: I think that's a big factor in some of these things. And that came out back in the fall when I addressed the state of our parishes and the change in mass attendance. The drop in mass attendance, that got a lot of attention when I gave the numbers, not only locally, even nationally, outlets were picking up a precipitous drop in mass attendance. Well, in mass attendance, part of it is there are people who are not coming to mass. We know that and that's terrible and we want to try to change that. That's a factor, and it's an important factor, but we also, in mass attendance, we have a generation of people who are very faithful, who are getting ill or dying and not necessarily being replaced. And then the big factor here in Brooklyn and Queens, which now translates to the schools, is that people are moving. Neighborhoods are changing. Neighborhoods where lots of people with lots of children, lots of families who would be looking for catholic education are now being replaced by people who aren't looking for catholic education. And at the same time, we have other neighborhoods where our catholic population is growing, exploding in leaps and bounds.
I use the image of a beach erosion. The land doesn't go away.
[00:12:36] Speaker A: It shifts.
[00:12:37] Speaker B: So one beach gets very, very short, and another one gets very, very long. And, you know, the people out by where I grew up in, like Gilgo and Tobay beach and all that, they say, oh, boy, we're in big trouble here with erosion. And it's true. But talk to the people down in breezy.
They got a walk to get to the ocean. You know, the scene shifts. And that's what happens around us here in Brooklyn, Queens, and that's been happening forever. That's the story of Brooklyn and Queens.
[00:13:08] Speaker A: I always am fascinated by Constantinople or Istanbul, which was once, you remember, there.
[00:13:14] Speaker B: Was an old song, Istanbul, not Constantinople.
[00:13:18] Speaker A: We're old.
But that was the second Rome that was the center of eastern Christianity. And now there's just the highway of Sophia, I think is probably one of the most beautiful churches. And it's changed. Now. I'm not comparing the grandeur of Constantinople to what we're dealing with, but it's the same spirit. And the Lord moves us. You know, we move, and this is where we're in now. That was also the prayer. We're in this particular time and place. Now. The good news out of this is that every one of the kids in those schools will have opportunities to go to fairly close, additional catholic schools.
[00:13:51] Speaker B: And that was an important factor.
[00:13:52] Speaker A: Right.
[00:13:53] Speaker B: We really wanted to be able to see that we could accommodate the young people.
[00:13:56] Speaker A: Our team is meeting with them over the next few days, literally, to give them the options that are there and to work with them and working with the schools to make sure they're inviting to work with that. So again, it's always a parent's decision. I can't tell you, you have to go to this school or that school. But I do think that these closures are really, in some ways, opportunities, and that's not easy. If it was my kid in 7th grade, going into 8th grade, I would want to hear it's an opportunity. I get their anger, I get their concern, I get their disappointment. And fear of.
[00:14:27] Speaker B: And we share it. We're disappointed, of course. It is heartbreaking.
[00:14:30] Speaker A: Now, one of the things, Bishop, which is interesting to me, is that, look, this is a trend throughout most of the country, the decline of catholic schools, you know, where it's not declining, where states support catholic education. And this is not a red or a white reality.
[00:14:43] Speaker B: I came from one of those states. I was in Ohio. And in fact, they just increased that support. And it does strengthen. It gives parents same opportunities that are provided to them through charter schools. This isn't a giveaway. These are families who are paying taxes, contributing to the local community. So these involve their rights. It's not, you know, in states where they do that, where they give this support to the parents. It's not to the school, to the parents to let the parents choose. You're right. The schools are thriving.
[00:15:12] Speaker A: We have a proven product. Catholic education has been an essential part of the growth of the United States of America for the last 200 years, our time. From you look at 45 to 70 catholic schools built on the shoulders of sister and brother. They created the irish, italian, polish, german middle class of that era. They're now creating the latino and haitian people from Africa, and irish and italian like everybody. That's what we do. We do is we give them the opportunity to become what, what God needs them to be and to build the community we have.
Obviously, this is my world. But the success of the United States is built strongly, not solely, but strongly on the fact that the sons and daughters of immigrants became captains of industry. And we know them. They're our friends. I was the first person in my family to receive a master's degree, and I was the second to receive a bachelor's degree. That says something.
[00:16:08] Speaker B: That says something.
Generations work hard to give that next generation the same. I say often when I'm in different immigrant communities for mass, I speak to the young people and I say, you know, my grandfather didn't come here to make his life better. He came here to give my mother and to give me opportunities 100%. That's what's happening. A lot of people, they left, maybe in some ways difficult lives, but in other ways, there are some people who came here to take tougher jobs than they might have been able to get in another place. But they also. They were looking ahead to their children.
[00:16:46] Speaker A: And that story continues right when we say neighborhoods change, a lot of ways. Neighborhoods don't change. The people in the neighborhoods change. But the idea, like, I grew up in the Bronx, you know, I was in the Bronx a little longer than you were at that time. It was very irish where I was very irish. And then we moved to two valley stream. That was the first step out. You moved a little further in Suffolk, and my dad was a city worker. My mom was a stay at home mom. But the idea was their sons. There was no question we were going to college. So the neighborhood is that turntable, and that's the celebration of it. Their issues are the same issues my mom went through or my grandmother went through. And our job is to support them. And that's why we need our politicians, who do send wonderful letters of concern and legitimate, really authentic. But our hands are tied, the deck is stuck against us. And we have charter schools that are invented by whim, who get support. We have almost two centuries of success, and we're ignored, right?
[00:17:40] Speaker B: That's right.
The experience. We talk about being heartbreaking, but it also gives us a moment of reflection. And we always try to learn from experiences, good and bad. On the one hand, yes, there's the loss of these schools. So is it fair to say that, yeah, while it's unfortunate, and it's a real loss that we mourn when a school closes, but that our numbers overall, our enrollment is somewhat steady.
[00:18:09] Speaker A: We still, if you include our high schools, we still have about 30,000 families that are involved in catholic education, that have their kids from pre k to twelve. We, at the time, as we're losing these schools, we have other schools that are struggling, but, you know, they're working on. We have the schools that are increasing their enrollment. We have one school that in the last five years have increased 25%. You look at some of the other schools, and they're all across the board. It has a lot to do with the community that they're in. How old are the kids that are there? And again, the strength of the community to support our schools. But this is not. We're not a titanic. You know what I mean? I want that to be very clear. It's a very sad thing to lose any schools, but we still have 66 very strong grammar schools, and we have 15 high schools that are serving the people and are serving our city and serving our country.
[00:18:56] Speaker B: And you want to take this as an opportunity to really work with the local communities about the strengths and the weaknesses in every one of our schools, to be able to communicate, to work on things.
[00:19:07] Speaker A: People may not realize this, the way our structure is set up. Virtually all of our boards, with the exception of three schools, our schools. Virtually all of our schools have a board of trustees that actually run them. And that's unlike any other that I'm aware of in America, catholic diocese and archdiocese in America. So these volunteers, they're the ones who work to develop the schools. You alluded to that earlier in our conversation. And these are the people that we need to continue to support, to give them the resources and to give them additional human beings to be there and to work with that.
[00:19:39] Speaker B: It's a interesting God bless some of our board people. They've been here since the inception of.
[00:19:44] Speaker A: The about 1015 years or so, and.
[00:19:47] Speaker B: That'S dedication and perseverance. That's great. But we always need to be bringing new people to the table, like maybe.
[00:19:53] Speaker A: Some of the listeners here as they're listening. Where is God calling me? Well, I think Bishop will agree. The Lord told Bishop and myself that maybe you should call your school and see if you can help out. Just saying.
[00:20:06] Speaker B: There you go. There you go.
[00:20:08] Speaker A: Always be selling, Bishop.
[00:20:09] Speaker B: Always be selling. That's right. That's right. So we're going to continue to improve. We're going to try to make sure that we're meeting the needs of the families who are in the communities where schools are closing, but we're also going to continue to make our schools stronger. That's a commitment that we have.
[00:20:28] Speaker A: Speaking of that, tell us, because by the time we drop this, this will also have happened. Your brainchild on Friday.
[00:20:36] Speaker B: Oh, yes. So that's right. As you're listening to this and this is being released, I'm gathering at the co cathedral of St. Joseph with you, with Father Carolli. Yes, with a lot of our team and about 1800 8th graders.
[00:20:53] Speaker A: 1800 8th graders are going to be with their bishop to celebrate the Eucharist, to celebrate who they've been and who they're about to become. It's going to be a whirlwind, but what it devastatingly delightful.
[00:21:07] Speaker B: It is.
[00:21:08] Speaker A: It's the best of times, it's difficult times, but that's going to be tremendous.
[00:21:13] Speaker B: You know, I can't get to all the graduations, but I'm proud of all of those kids. We want to tell them how proud we are of them. We want to encourage them as they move forward now, as they take their steps toward high school. We want to assure them that we, and I say that, but the grand we, all of us, their schools, their teachers, we want to remain in friendship with them, be support for them. We both in pastoral life, you come across people who, when in a time of difficulty, have turned back to their school, to their parish, to where they came from.
[00:21:52] Speaker A: Alma mater. Alma mater. That holds them. I can't speak more highly about the work that Father Carolli has put on this. He's going to tell you that it's me and Deacon Kevin. It's father Carolli and Kevin McCormick.
It's really my team. But Father Carolyn has worked tirelessly on this event.
[00:22:11] Speaker B: And earlier during Lent, we gathered with.
[00:22:14] Speaker A: The seniors, which was wonderful. We had about 600, 650 kids at St. James, and this is going to dwarf that by over a thousand kids.
[00:22:22] Speaker B: Yep. And they're going to be great. That's the beauty of catholic schools. They know how to be fun. They know how to be kids, and they can laugh. And they also know that when the moment for the sacred comes, they're in. They're in. This is going to be a great day that as we celebrate catholic education, actually, we celebrate the fruits of catholic education because what we're going to do together is just celebrate these 8th graders in Globo. Each of those schools will be celebrating graduations. Their parents will be all dressed up and proud of the children who are graduating. So these are days, too, where we see the fruits of the labor and the blessings of God.
[00:23:10] Speaker A: It's the whirlwind, you know, you don't know where it's going to take you, but it's, and I've grown as I get older. I realize that Good Friday is as important as Easter Sunday. I realize Easter Sunday is the pinnacle. We're still in Easter season. But the difficulties, the struggles, the pain is also a gift.
[00:23:25] Speaker B: It's all connected. So with that, I ask you to keep this day in your prayers, to keep all of us in your prayers as we move forward, as we serve our schools. We give thanks to all the people who support our schools in a thousand different ways, financially, prayerfully, volunteering, working, in a sense, set a salary that they could get more in a public school setting. But there were just a thousand different ways that dedicated people are working together for the good of catholic education and families that make sacrifices. So we thank you and congratulate you. This is that time of the year as we come into May, now in May and June, where we get a chance to look back with a sense of pride on our young people.
[00:24:12] Speaker A: Well, we also have been very blessed in Brooklyn with all our bishops, most recently bishop Damasio, and now certainly with you. We've always had bishops that saw catholic education as the center of it. So our thanks from the school community to you and to your predecessors for allowing us to realize we have a father that works with us as we do all this work.
[00:24:32] Speaker B: Thank you much. Thank you. Close with prayer as we normally do, and I tend to use the Regina Celi during this season of Easter, rejoicing with the blessed Mother and all the saints in the glorious resurrection of Jesus, queen of heaven. Rejoice. Alleluia. The son whom you merited to bear, Alleluia, has risen, as he said, alleluia. Pray for us to God. Alleluia. Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary. Alleluia. For the Lord is truly risen. Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia. May almighty God bless you and your families, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.
[00:25:10] Speaker A: Amen and hallelujah.
[00:25:12] Speaker B: Amen and hallelujah. Thanks for joining us once again for this edition of Big City Catholics. Please join us again next week. By the way, next Thursday is the feast of the ascension of the Lord, a holy day of obligation. So it's a great thing to celebrate that part of humanity sits in heaven, so rejoice in that day is part of this Easter mystery. God bless.
