Bishop Robert Brennan announced some new changes in the Diocese of Brooklyn on Friday, June 23.
The bishop is planning a new regional map for the diocese, consisting of four regions, and introducing the four Episcopal Vicars who will oversee them.
The regions will be divided among Brooklyn East, Brooklyn West, Queens East, and Queens West.
Each Vicar will be responsible for his own territory within the diocese.
The four Regional Episcopal Vicars will support diocesan initiatives and install and assist new pastors within the diocese’s 22 deaneries.
Auxiliary Bishop Witold Mroziewski, will lead Brooklyn West.
He is currently the pastor of Holy Cross in Maspeth, and vicar for the diocese’s Migrant and Ethnic Apostolates.
“The biggest challenge will be the closeness to each other and also more collaborative work as partners, with the parishes, with two or three parishes, pastors and lay people,”Bishop Mroziewski said. “But I think it will be very fruitful to listen and work with them.”
The vicars will also be in charge of investigating and addressing complaints made to Bishop Brennan and complaints of inappropriate conduct.
It’s a responsibility Father Peter Purpura of Our Lady of Hope, who will lead Queens West, said he takes extremely seriously.
“These are the things where we’re going to be thrust into these sensitive situations, where there’s been someone harmed or with just fielding and responding to a common complaint, or people just air their grievances and it will be our responsibility to respond to that and where possible repair the harm,” Father Purpura said.
Another aspect of this new role is pastoral planning within the diocese.
Father John Costello of St. Luke’s, who will lead Queens East, said he looks forward to working with pastors on spiritual goals, for both the Diocese of Brooklyn and the global church.
“At the end of the day our role is to bring people to a personal relationship with Jesus,” Father Costello said. “The million dollar question is how to get parents and young people back to church and that’s the key message we need to get out to people, that Jesus makes a difference in our lives.”
Father Joseph Hoffman of St. Barbara’s in Bushwick-Ridgewood, and a chaplain for the Fire Department of the City of New York, will lead Brooklyn East.
To read more about the new regions and their vicars, click here.
For detailed maps of the regions and their corresponding parishes, purchase a copy of the July 1 & 8 double edition of The Tablet in your parish.
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