Bishop Brennan Learns a Faithful Lesson at St. Sebastian Catholic Academy

Tags: Currents Brooklyn, NY, Catholic Education, Faith, Media, Queens, NY

By Jessica Easthope

Bishop Robert Brennan was the biggest kid in kindergarten. As he flipped pages and captured the attention of the class he was learning something too, a lesson about St. Sebastian Catholic Academy and how its students share their Catholic identity.

“This year for me it’s a little bit like being at home but even this year I find myself experiencing new things,” said Bishop Brennan.

“We really like to improve on Catholic education, if you walk around classrooms there are projects with community faith spread all over the wall, we’re really nice and kind, we take care of each other we’re like one big family,” said eighth grade ambassador, Camden Picarello.

Bishop Brennan took a tour, Wednesday, for Catholic Schools Week. He was brought from class-to-class by the eighth grade ambassadors. The students wanted everything to be perfect.

“I was a little nervous at first because he’s the head of the diocese but it was great,” said Camden.

“I was nervous a little bit because I was reading and didn’t want to make a mistake,” said sixth grader Gracie Galindo.

Gracie says there’s nothing she loves more than her school.

“We have a really strong Catholic faith especially in the background, the Catholic community is awesome, I just love it, I’ve been here since pre-k,” she said.

At an assembly, their knowledge was put to the test, presenting to Bishop Brennan essays about his motto and trivia facts about his life.
Principal Michelle Picarello says there’s one thing the school’s curriculum never strays from.

“Our Catholic identity is important to us and everything that we do and everything that we’re about has Jesus Christ at the center,” she said.

And Bishop Brennan picked up on the pride students have in their faith now and how it will affect their futures.

“That sense of Catholic life, our students are very comfortable living Catholic life, they’re comfortable at mass, they know to pray, they speak with the vocabulary of our faith, even with secular subjects they have a way of integrating it to their whole life,” said Bishop Brennan.

It’s something you can’t find in a book.