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Bishop Brennan’s Family, Fellow Priests Share Hopes for His Next Chapter in the Diocese of Brooklyn

By Jessica Easthope

He promises to be a bishop for the people – and Bishop Robert Brennan’s siblings say you can take his word for it.

“He’s a roll with the punches kind of guy so when something comes up, he’ll find the goodness, he’s somebody you can count on – someone you can go to,” said Bishop Brennan’s sister, Patty Conlon.

His sister, Patty, and brother, Tom, say as the oldest, Bishop Brennan knows how to be level-headed. That’s what people can expect for his leadership too.

“He’s an incredible uncle, an incredible pastor, the kids are all happy to have Uncle Bob home and it’s nice,” said his brother, Tom Brennan.

“Uncle Bob” to his family – but shepherd to more than one million Catholics in Brooklyn and Queens. In his homily, Tuesday Bishop Brennan says he’s jumping headfirst into his new role.

“This is now home,” he said. “This is home. I look forward to living and praying among you to serving you with every ounce of my being.”

Bishop Brennan had plenty of family support at his installation Mass Nov. 30, as well as brother priests celebrating his next step. Cardinal Timothy Dolan says he has no doubt his approach to the job will be to listen first.

“He’s going to say ‘hey I’m going into a great diocese, I’m going to stop, look and listen I’m going to get around and see if there needs to be any new emphasis,’ he’ll be a pro at that,” said Cardinal Dolan.

On Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio’s second day as leader of the Diocese of Brooklyn, he attended an immigration rally. Bishop Brennan was by his side. Bishop DiMarzio says he sees it as foreshadowing that another man, also passionate about immigration is taking over.

“You have somebody that has the skills necessary,” said Bishop DiMarzio. “It’s a complex diocese, a fast-moving diocese. It is New York so he’s able to do it.”

Bishop Brennan has only hinted about his plan for the diocese, but his family says he’ll put evangelization ahead of it all.

“He hopes to bring more people back into the religion and I’m sure he will,” said his godmother, Peggy McGurk. “It’s by word of mouth, everybody just wants to go see him.”

Paying Homage to Her Italian Heritage, TV Judge Patricia DiMango Has Your Next Home-Cooked Recipes

Currents News Staff

You may recognize Diocese of Brooklyn native Judge Patricia DiMango on the reality court show “Hot Bench.” But now Judge DiMango is taking that heat to another setting. 

“From the Kitchen to the Courtroom – Doing Justice to Pasta” is her new cookbook out now that gives you simple and inexpensive ways to make some delicious home-cooked meals.

Judge DiMango joined Currents News to share food tips for the upcoming holiday and how she made the shift from the courtroom to the kitchen.

The Process to Becoming a Bishop: How Successors of the Apostles are Chosen in the Catholic Church

Currents News Staff

While Bishop Brennan’s installation is fast approaching, his journey here to Brooklyn was not something that happened overnight. The entire process of naming a new bishop can take months, even years. It all starts right in the local diocese and ends with a decision at the Vatican.

We spoke with those in the know to find out what happens in between.

Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus of Brooklyn Octavio Cisneros has been at the receiving end of a similar process and was part of the process in choosing Brooklyn’s newest bishop.

“One does not become a bishop, one is chosen a bishop. It’s not a lot of steps but it involves a lot of people,” said Bishop Cisneros.

It starts with a meeting of the bishops in an ecclesiastical province. New York’s eight dioceses make up the empire state’s province. Each bishop in a province can nominate someone.

“Why are you chosen? Because you are doing that which you were meant to do as a priest. Be a good priest- do what you were ordained to do… and do it with love, do it with freedom, do it with a fidelity to the church and to the diocese and to the people who you are ministering,” said Bishop Cisneros.

The bishops take a vote and send the top names to the Apostolic Nuncio, Christophe Pierre.  This is the part of the process where a lot of the research is done.

The nuncio gets information about the diocese from the current bishop. He also contacts priests and even lay people to find out more about a nominee.  He then narrows the list down to three, which is called the Terna, and sends it to the USCCB for input. Then to Rome, to the Congregation of Bishops at the Vatican. Bishops and cardinals from around the world meet to vote on the candidates and put them in order of preference.

Editor Emeritus of The Tablet, Ed Wilkinson, says the congregation does its due diligence.

“They look at the slots that are available. It’s almost like a chess game – who fits where – who’s got the talents that would be best used whether in the state or outside of the province. They want to pick the right person they want to find the person who has the right talent, the right resource for a particular diocese,” said Wilkinson.

The names of the top three candidates are presented to the pope who makes the final decision.

“It’s the Holy Father. He may like all 3 names. He may like none of the names. He may add another name,” said Bishop Cisneros.

Whoever the pope chooses is notified by the nuncio and asked if he will accept the appointment.

Once accepted, an announcement is made, an ordination or installation is scheduled, and the excitement begins.

“Oh, it’s an exciting time. It’s always exciting. You get the new bishop and you want to get to learn more about him and you see him in action and you see his new style. It’s going to be a very exciting time,” said Wilkinson.

 

Is Pope Francis a Mets fan?

Currents News Staff

Is Pope Francis a Mets fan? Social media has been buzzing about after Mets’ first baseman Pete Alonso’s new bride posted a picture of them meeting Pope Francis at the Vatican.

The happy couple was on their honeymoon in Italy when they posted this photo. It triggered an onslaught of comments from fans. Many questioned His Holiness’ MLB allegiance.

But some are hopeful that since pete touched the pope, they’ll have a blessed season!

 

Why This Queens Resident Wrote 4,000 Thank You Cards to NYPD Officers

By Jessica Easthope 

All the letters read the same, but for Coretta James, every police officer’s individual dedication deserves a thank you.

“I saw the tough job that they have and I just wanted to encourage them and let them know they have support out there,” Coretta said, “that not everyone is against them and they’re not the enemy.” 

Since 2017, Coretta has been on a mission to hand write a thank you card to every single officer in the NYPD. So far, she’s delivered 4,000 letters and with every stroke of her pen: the officer; detective; sergeant; lieutenant; captain; or chief that gets a letter knows there’s someone out there rooting for them.

“They put on that uniform to serve us and as a civilian I don’t take that for granted,” Coretta said.

Coretta, who came to the U.S. from Antigua at 16, never seals the envelopes. She adds in the name of every officer when she gets to a precinct and she says the personal touch makes all the difference.

“A smile, a hug from an officer,” she said, “or they say ‘I’m going to take a picture of this and send it to my wife’ or ‘I’m going to put this in my locker so I can always look at it.’ It’s rewarding.”

There wasn’t one event that sparked her passion, but Coretta says with recent racial tension across the country, police officers have become the target. More than 5,300 NYPD officers retired or resigned in 2020. That’s up 75 percent from 2019. Though Coretta acknowledges there are cops that don’t always do the right thing, she’s not letting that stop her.

“I can’t let that deter me because that’s a few,” she said, “few officers, because no one can be all bad.” 

Another way in which Coretta says the good far outweighs the bad? The responses she’s gotten from the public, especially as a person of color. She’s had people send her threats, even wishing her carpal tunnel.

“These comments show me that I’m on the right side and I’m not changing sides,” Coretta said.

She has a long way to go before all 36,000 NYPD officers get a thank you. She says her faith has allowed her to not just feel compassion toward these members of service but to act on it.

Each letter ends with words she believes with all her heart.

Catholic News Headlines for Wednesday, 11/24/21

More than a quarter of American families are struggling to put food on the table — Because of the pandemic, supply chain issues and inflation, the food pantries they rely on are also struggling.

A blow to faith-based social service agencies that provide adoption and foster care.

Police are stepping up patrols around high-end retailers saying ’tis the season for smash and grab burglaries.

St. John’s Bread & Life is Steadfast in Its Mission of Feeding the Hungry Amid Spike in Food Prices

By Jessica Easthope

The mission is simple – feed the hungry, but the approach has become increasingly complex.

Supply chain issues are causing food prices to soar and not just for the people waiting in line at St. John’s Bread & Life. With a week left before their big Thanksgiving meal, Wednesday, the vendor they receive all their turkeys from said they can’t fulfill the order.

“It was a last-minute scramble and it was expensive, but we really believe no one should go without,” said executive director, Sister Caroline Tweedy, R.S.M.

They made due, because during the pandemic, Sister Caroline transformed the entire operation. She says keeping up with this level of food insecurity and doing more with less is the new normal.

“We can’t even remember the past at this point,” she said. “We flipped the script so quickly to meet the need in the community that that seems like hundreds of years ago.”

One grab-and-go bag of food used to cost a little over a dollar, now they cost $1.60, while meat and dairy costs went up 10 percent. Bread & Life fed 6,000 people this week alone and Sister Caroline says she’s not willing to compromise on food quality.

“Keeping people fed with good nutritional food, you’re less likely to have people going to the emergency room, people getting sick. It’s all intertwined,” sister said.

The staff and volunteers who make this machine run aren’t giving up. Many of the people bagging the food have been on the opposite side of the hand-out window.

“They know what the struggle is for folks, so they won’t allow anyone to go hungry, not on their turf anyway,” Sister Caroline said.

At the same time, Bread & Life struggles too – but they willingly take that risk because there’s no other option, the hungry need to be fed.

Season of Giving: DeSales Media Group Distributes 100 Turkeys to Diocese of Brooklyn Food Pantries

Currents News Staff

The season of giving is here: NET-TV’s parent company, DeSales Media Group, donated Thanksgiving dinners Monday, Nov. 22, just in time for Thursday’s holiday.

One hundred turkeys were distributed by NYPD community affairs to three parishes around the Diocese of Brooklyn including Holy Child Jesus Church in Richmond Hill, Queens; St. Martin de Porres Parish in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn; and Transfiguration Parish in South Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

All three parishes have food pantries that regularly give to struggling families.

Spike and Spicy Are Alaskan Reindeer Twins Who Beat the Odds at Surviving

Currents News Staff

Reindeer aren’t usually born as twins and survive, but a rare pair in Alaska has beaten the odds just in time for the holidays.

Meet Spike and Spicy. They were born at Williams Reindeer Farm right outside of Anchorage and quickly became a popular addition to the farm’s Santa experience tour. 

But according to the farmers, their arrival came as a surprise to everyone.

“Spicy and Spike’s mom. Her name is Sugar Mama, and she was in labor,” said Lauren Waite from the reindeer farm. “And as soon as the first one come out, I saw that there were two more feet hanging out of her bottom. And I panicked because I was like, ‘Oh no, this means twins.'”

Williams Reindeer Farm has been raising reindeer for over 30 years, and they say twins don’t often live past 24 hours.

However, Spike and Spicy are now six months old.