Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: Welcome to a new edition of our diocesan podcast, Big City Catholics, with Bishop Robert Brennan, the Diocesan Bishop of Brooklyn, serving in Brooklyn and Queens, and myself, Father Christopher Henry, here at St. Joan of Arc Parish. Today, we're joined with Father Alonzo Cox, the pastor of St. Martin de Porres Parish, which is a parish that has three worship sites, Our lady of Victory, Holy Rosary, and Church of St. Peter Claver. That's really the topic of our conversation today as we approach the upcoming feast of St. Peter Claver on September 9th. Wednesday, September 9th. So, Father Cox, we're happy to have
[00:00:44] Speaker A: you here, but before we begin our
[00:00:45] Speaker B: conversation, we do always we begin in prayer in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. I've taken a prayer in honor of St. Peter Claver, calling upon his intercession. St. Peter Claver, you embarked upon a journey into the hellish conditions of abuse and suffering caused by greed and a total lack of respect for human dignity. Within those conditions, you brought the light of Christ and administered the grace of the sacraments, giving hope to those who needed it the most.
Please pray for us that we will become a beacon of hope for those who need it the most by always preaching Christ crucified and making the salvation of souls, beginning with our own, our number one priority.
St. Peter Kleber.
[00:01:28] Speaker A: Pray for us in the name of
[00:01:30] Speaker B: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
[00:01:33] Speaker C: So welcome, Father Cox.
[00:01:35] Speaker A: Thank you so much, Bishop. Thank you for having me.
[00:01:37] Speaker C: And thanks for being here with us today. Father Hen, you spoke about the richness of the parish that you have in Bed Stuy. It's an historic parish, but it also is encompassing three different churches, so that's pretty busy. You're also serving the vicariat for black Catholic concerns, and that's a pretty active vicariate, right? We have a few events all throughout the year.
[00:02:01] Speaker A: Yes, we do. Yes, we do. We actually have one of the largest black communities in the United States here in Brooklyn. So it's an opportunity for the black community to be able to share their culture and to share the faith with the entire diocesan community. So I've been privileged to be able to do that over the last few years.
[00:02:20] Speaker C: And it's great that you have two major events would be Martin Luther King and Black History Month, but there were all kinds of diocesan events through the year. And then, of course, we have a rich black Catholic spirituality, whether it be the African American spirituality, Haitian, Caribbean, and so many parishes, so many of our parishes. It's a great, great richness. That's who we are. As Diocese of Brooklyn in Brooklyn and Queens. This week, we're coming up on The Feast of St Peter Claver, an important saint in the life of the church. But we are looking forward to celebrating his feast at the Coke Cathedral with a holy hour, including the rosary and evening prayer, with a social after. And really at the heart of that would be the Knights and the ladies of St. Peter Claver here in Brooklyn, Queens. People will see the Knights and ladies of St. Peter Claver at certain events here and there, but I don't think they're quite as well known as some other organizations. So why don't you share with us some of that who they are and their history and how they fit into the life here at Brooklyn and Queens.
[00:03:26] Speaker A: Absolutely. The Knights and ladies of St. Peter Claver, they're the oldest black Catholic fraternal organization in the country. Their mission is really to promote the gospel, you know, to promote the message that Jesus continues to allow us to hear, that we will all come together. Unity, peace, being able to come together as one to spread the good news united in Jesus.
So right before you arrive, Bishop Brennan, to the diocese, a number of people within the Vicariat wanted to begin a chapter here in Brooklyn. Now, apparently, there was a group here in the diocese many, many, many years ago, but unfortunately, many of those people have left the diocese or had gone home to God.
So right before you arrived, maybe a year before you arrived, I had approached Bishop DiMarzio, and I had asked if we could begin a chapter here in the diocese. A chapter of knights and a chapter of ladies. With his permission, we began this newly organized group of Knights and Ladies that began here in Brooklyn. And over the last four years, it has skyrocketed. We now have five chapters here in Brooklyn and Queens of Knights and Ladies. They're bringing it to the parish communities. They're able just to continue the mission of just spreading the good news, of spreading the gospel. The Knights were established so that the black community could share their culture with the entire church.
And one of the most beautiful things that The Knights of St. Peter Claver does is that they're able to share their rich culture with the church universal. So you'll see at many events throughout our country, particularly when I was in Washington over the summer for Bishop Boxy's ordination, there was a large group of Knights and ladies there. And again, their mission, to continue to preach the message that we are all one, that we are one body, one spirit, one church, you know, in the. Through the intercession of St. Peter Claver, who brought so many people of color to the church. You know, St. Peter Claver baptized over 300,000 slaves, and he brought them to the church. And his mission was just to make sure that they knew that they were loved by God and that. That they would be able to be a part of a church that. That truly loved them. So they continue the mission. The Knights and Ladies continue the mission of preaching unity, of preaching equality, all through the lens of St. Peter Claver.
[00:06:17] Speaker C: His life is indeed fascinating. And it was a time of great cruelty, inhumanity. The truth was people were being treated as property, not as human individuals.
[00:06:29] Speaker A: And, you know, one of the things that Saint Peter Claver always wanted to let people know is that, you know, we're all brothers and sisters and we see the face of God in all of our brothers and sisters. And as someone who was immersed, one of the things I'm fascinated with about St. Peter Claver is that he. He considered himself a slave among the slaves, and he became one of them and really immersed himself into. Into their culture and into who God created them to be. And he brought them into the church and he brought them into the fold. And it's one of the most beautiful aspects on the life of St. Peter Claver. And the Knights and Ladies continue to do that through their work, through their charitable works within the order.
[00:07:16] Speaker C: And this is a little bit of an important year for part of the Knights and the ladies, Right? This year, celebrating a jubilee.
[00:07:24] Speaker A: The ladies, yes, the Ladies Auxiliary will celebrate their 100th anniversary, their 100th year of establishment as Ladies Auxiliary of St. Peter Claver. And so we're very blessed to have some of the ladies that will come from New York State to be with us next Wednesday for our celebration of St. Peter Claver. They do just amazing work, charitable work, and being able just to scholarships and making sure that our young people are able to receive a good education. So, you know, we celebrate them this year and the good work that they continue to do through the intercession of St. Peter Claver.
[00:08:02] Speaker C: And I'm incredibly grateful for their presence and for the participation in the life of the church here, the chapters that are here. I'm incredibly grateful. It's a powerful, powerful witness. You know, we were talking a bit about St. Peter Claver, and one of the churches under your career is the Church of St. Peter Claver, which is an historic church here in Brooklyn and really in New York and in the United States.
[00:08:29] Speaker A: St. Peter Claver Church here in Brooklyn was founded over 100 years ago by Servant of God Monsignor Bernard J. Quinn, as history will tell us, or one of the stories that came about from Monsignor Quinn was when he wanted to establish a church for the black community.
He knew that he wanted to name the church after St. Peter Claver. That was his vision, that he wanted to name this church, this newly established church for the growing black community in Brooklyn after St. Peter Claver. And you'll notice for those of you who have been to St. Peter Claver, the mural right in the sanctuary of St. Peter Claver, it's Peter Claver baptizing the slaves. And it's just such a. You know, every time I celebrate Mass there, it's such a beautiful image for us to reflect upon, as St. Peter Claver brought so many people, hundreds of thousands of people, through the saving waters of baptism and allowing them to be a part of the church. And Monsignor Quinn wanted to bring the black community together as a community and to welcome them to be a welcoming community to the church here in Brooklyn. So I am privileged to. To be able to follow in the footsteps of Monsignor quinn, who built St. Peter Claver, to continue the mission of promoting unity and peace here in Brooklyn and to continue to bring more people to the fold and to bring people closer to the heart of Christ. We're all children of God, created in his image and likeness. And to be able to do that through the help of this amazing saint.
[00:10:05] Speaker B: Father Cox, I just wanted to ask a little bit about the process of how things are going on, the cause of canonization for Monsignor Quinn. And I know you and I have had opportunities to chat. I'm very excited to be of assistance anyway we can, as we continue to get the word of his name out there to the public that people may continue to pray through his intercession. We're looking for those miracles, certainly. What's in store this coming year for that cause?
[00:10:33] Speaker A: We're doing extremely well. The cause is in Rome. It's at the Dicastery for Causes of Saints. We've had the opportunity to send all of the historical information on Monsignor Quinn to the dicastery. Key is really, as you said, praying, praying through his intercession. Praying that the Lord will bestow a miracle through the intercession of Monsignor Quinn. We have a wonderful guild here in Brooklyn and Queens, and every month we pray that the Lord will continue to build up the cause here in Brooklyn. So many people have gotten to know the working of Monsignor Quinn, and a lot of that was through the late Monsignor Jervis. And he's really the one that really paved the way for this. And when I succeeded him after his death, I've had the opportunity just to, in my own travels, to let people know about Monsignor Quinn and the work that he did in Brooklyn. And as a proud Brooklyn priest, I'm very happy to promote another Brooklyn priest for sainthood. So many people have really made inquiries about his life and what are some of the things that he did and what are some of the things that are continuously happening at St. Peter Claver? As you know, Montana Jervis wrote a phenomenal book called the Quintessential Priest. So right now we're in the process of re establishing and re reorganizing that book in his name and in his honor. And then, as you know, fundraising is important. And last year we had a very successful fundraiser, and now we're looking to do more fundraising. And the key is just really getting his name out there, getting people to know who Monsignor Quinn was and, and why he is so important and why we're continuously pushing and supporting his cause of canonization.
[00:12:22] Speaker C: I can't say enough about that importance of prayer, canonization, beatification. It's not a matter of checking off all the boxes on a.
And then, okay, you get the stamp of approval. But what we're looking for, the church seeks some evidence that this person is in heaven with God. Now, we're fairly confident. I mean, I think we can be more than confident of his being in heaven, but being called a saint is one where that's been recognized and in a sense, validated. So we look for those miracles. One of our priests, Monsignor Robert Sano, is retired Brooklyn priest who worked for much of his time as a priest in the dicastery for the cause of saints. So he has a great deal of knowledge and experience and he continues to be very active in this work. And he is always talking about that necessity of prayer and intercession and seeking Monsignor Quinn's intercession to give us, if you will, that validation. And that comes about generally through miracles.
And he says there's some key components of that. First of all, it's got to be deliberate prayer. You got to be saying this is what seems like an impossible situation. And say, monsignor Quinn, please pray with me. Please pray for me. Pray for this intention. Be very, very clear, very direct. Secondly, he says a big issue is reporting miracles that happen, because sometimes things do happen and people, okay, this is great, but that sense of reporting, it has to undergo a great deal of scrutiny. But again, we don't take a declaration like canonization lightly. So those two components of praying, praying for particular intentions, praying just for the cause of the canonization, and reporting any miracles is so, so important. And that's one way that the guild can be very helpful. And that's where fundraising comes in. There are certain tasks, certain writing that you have to hire people to get things done. But the other thing is to produce prayer cards and all kinds of reminders to help people to pray for those miracles. And, you know, yes, miracles are unusual occurrences, but they happen. And that's why it's so important that we continue to reach out. We trust in the will of God, and we know that God's ultimate will is our salvation.
But we asked for these favors along the way, and Monsignor Quinn has really shown himself to be a powerful intercessor. People have spoken about things, favors that they've experienced through his intercession that might not meet the criteria of a miracle, but in fact, have shown that, you know, he is indeed praying with and for the church in Brooklyn. So there is something to it, but we want to really stay with it. And I have to say, I stand in admiration of some of the people on the Gift Guild. As you know, Father Cox, they're very, very generous with their time and their talent. They're very, very focused on the mission and rather direct about it. So I think it's a great thing that we have people who are right there keeping that. That alive.
[00:15:40] Speaker A: They are very dedicated to the cause. And, you know, one of the things that. That has really flourished, and I'm so happy, is that members of. We now have members of the Guild who are from all over. We've got members who are from the Diocese of Rockville Center. We have members of the Guild who are from New Jersey who participate in so many different ways in support of the cause. And many of them have made visits to St. Peter Claver Church. Just this past summer, the Guild made a trip, a pilgrimage to Little Flower House of Providence and Waving River. Monsignor Quinn founded Little Flower House of Providence for the black orphans. Little Flower continues to do some amazing work for communities out on Long island and even here in Brooklyn and Queens. And so it was really beautiful that that members of the guild, I think about maybe 40 or 50 of them, made, made a bus trip and spent the day at Little Flower and just being able to see the good work that was started by servant of God, Monsignor Bernard Jaquin and started maintained and
[00:16:43] Speaker C: actually fought for by Monsignor Quinn because he faced a lot of prejudice out there and he stood up to that. There's some stories about the chapel there being burnt by the kkk. Yeah, he went down and made a visit himself and made it clear that it's not going to happen a third time.
[00:17:00] Speaker A: So the mission, the mission continues to flourish and the mission continues to be produced. And all of that is through the gift of Servant of God. Monsignor Quinn.
[00:17:10] Speaker C: Well, thanks for this conversation. I think it's enlightening for many of our listeners. And it's a, it's a key part of our Brooklyn heritage and our living, ongoing history.
And we take another step in that this week on Wednesday on The Feast of St Peter Claver, a memorial that is celebrated at the daily Mass in parishes. So we remember Peter Claver at Mass, but we have that special Holy Hour. The details again, Father Cox, we'll have
[00:17:38] Speaker A: holy hour at 7.30pm at the Co Cathedral. We'll have the recitation of the rosary, vespers and benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. And we're very happy to have you as the presider. And homilist.
[00:17:51] Speaker C: I'm looking forward to being there with you. And I'm going to have a friend, Bishop Cahill, from the Diocese of Victoria, who'll be making a pastoral visit. So we're looking forward to that experience. Experience.
[00:18:02] Speaker A: It's beautiful. You know, the USCCB also actually observes September 9th as a national day of prayer for peace. So we'll have a very special intention at the Holy hour for peace throughout our country.
[00:18:16] Speaker C: Father Hanyu, enjoy these last couple of days before Labor Day and the end of summer, the beginning of school.
[00:18:23] Speaker B: Yes. You as well, Bishop. We're very excited here to start up the pastoral year to start our school.
The kids are coming back. I had Mass this morning with our Missionaries of Charity and I start to see the morning traffic kind of picking up. I'm not excited about that, but it is definitely an excitement to see this kind of hustle and bustle coming back together again. So you as well, Bishop. And you know, as we move into the next few weeks, we have some very important podcasts. Next week we release our podcast on the 25th anniversary of the tragic events of September 11th. We will be joined by a special guest for that podcast. And then hopefully, Bishop, you'll have the chance to bring Bishop Cahill on for another edition of our diocesan podcast, Big City Catholic. So to talk about migration service issues here in our country. And in light of this topic of Today's topic of St. Peter Claver. So we've got a lot in store even for our podcast as we kick off the new year. So it's very exciting stuff.
[00:19:21] Speaker C: Father Alonzo, thank you so much for joining us and enjoy this weekend yourself.
[00:19:26] Speaker A: Thank you so much, Bishop.
[00:19:27] Speaker C: I'll see you next week for Peter Claver but also hopefully for Labor Day.
[00:19:32] Speaker B: Bishop, perhaps you'd like to end with a blessing.
[00:19:35] Speaker C: Sure.
[00:19:36] Speaker A: The Lord be with you and with your spirit.
[00:19:38] Speaker C: 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, then the Son and the Holy Spirit descend upon you, remain with you forever and ever. Amen.
[00:19:51] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:19:52] Speaker B: God bless you all and thanks for joining us on this edition. We hope that you'll join us again next weekend.
