It’s Time to Begin the Season of Advent

The imagery in today’s Gospel from Saint Luke should sound a bit familiar. Saint Mark’s version of the same discourse was the Gospel two Sunday’s ago. Although there are some differences, the basic message is the same: Stay alert, Christ is coming again at a time that we cannot predict.

A Modern Missionary

Before starting to write this column I looked at two books written by Sister Ave Clark, O.P.: “A Heart of Courage: The Ordinary and Extraordinary Becoming Holy”. The second book, which is Sister’s sixth book, was co-authored with her brother Joseph M. Clark. I was delighted to see recently that the book was advertised in both The Tablet and the Jesuit magazine, America.

If We Can Install a Bishop, We Can Enthrall a Flock

On Nov. 30, the Co-Cathedral of Saint Joseph will host a liturgy that is unique, full of meaning, and worthy of attention. The installation of the eighth bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn, Robert J. Brennan, is the kind of transition that echoes Jesus Christ’s promises to his Church — to “make all things new” and to “never leave us orphans.”

First Sunday Mass as Brooklyn’s Bishop Will Be at Alma Mater

When Bishop Robert Brennan was a student at St. John’s University in the 1980s, he remembers attending daily Mass at the small Our Lady of Lourdes chapel tucked away on-campus. It was something vital to his early formation and eventual decision to join the seminary.

The Ritual That Will Formally Welcome the New Bishop of Brooklyn

Since Bishop Robert Brennan is already a prelate, there will be no rituals for ordaining a new bishop on Nov. 30. Instead, the ceremony involves his installation as shepherd of his new flock — approximately 1.5 million Roman Catholics in nearly 200 Catholic parishes across the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens.