PROSPECT HEIGHTS — A recent visit to Washington State for a Catholic Extension Society “immersion” experience has given Bishop Robert Brennan a new appreciation for the saying, “Fruit of the vine and work of human hands.”
During this tour of farmland near Yakima, Bishop Brennan and several priests from the Diocese of Brooklyn saw how migrant workers harvest cherries. They also observed how priests, religious sisters, seminarians, and the laity serve the workers with charity.
“In the preparation of the gifts, you speak of the fruit of the vine and the work of human hands,” Bishop Brennan said. “That hits home now in a very powerful way.”
The immersion trip was a showcase for the migrant worker ministry that Bishop Joseph Tyson of Yakima and his team have led since 2011.
Catholic Extension Society is a longtime supporter of this work. Based in Chicago, this nonprofit aims to bolster Catholic communities in poor areas throughout the U.S.
Bishop Brennan said the ministry is a real-time example of Catholics obeying what the Church asks: to walk with others — in this case, migrant workers — and extend to them corporate and spiritual works of mercy.
It was Bishop Brennan’s first Catholic Extension Society immersion trip. He said he had long been aware of its work and that he had become friends with Bishop Tyson during their annual meetings with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
He finally made the trip this year, following up on invitations from Father Charles Keeney, the former director of the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Office of the Propagation of the Faith, who retired in 2022 but has remained active in promoting Catholic Extension activities.
Additionally, Bishop Brennan said Father Dwayne Davis, pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in the Flatlands, had urged him to go on a Catholic Extension Society trip.
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This year’s group also included Father Keeney, Father Henry Torres of Mary of Nazareth Parish, Father Juan Luxama of the Shrine Church of St. Bernadette, Father Patrick Longalong of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Father Jose Diaz of Mary Nativity-St. Ann Parish, Father John Maduri of St. Bernard Parish, Father Ikenna Okagbue of the St. Jude Shrine Church, and Father Joseph Miller of St. Mary Star of the Sea-St. Gertrude Parish.
Bishop Tyson’s team engages the workers, providing sacraments including Mass on Sunday and Wednesday.
The workers, mainly from Mexico and Guatemala, are in the country legally with appropriate work visas. Some brought their families, so seminarians led children in games, arts and crafts, and a literacy program. Bishop Tyson often joins in the fun and entertains with his popular hand puppets. Seminarians also participate in the cherry harvest.
The job is strenuous — with workers going up and down ladders and filling their baskets, which are emptied into larger containers. The skill involves picking the cherry to keep its stem intact; removing it breaches a cherry’s skin, which hastens spoilage. To avoid that, the workers pull up on the fruit. Pulling downward snaps the stem.
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The workers pick millions of cherries a day during the season, which starts in the summer and ends with the apple harvest in early fall. Father Longalong marveled that the workers begin around 3 a.m. and wrap up before the heat of the day.
He learned that cherries retain their sweetness during the cooler hours of the day because, as the day warms up, the sugars retreat from the fruit back into the tree, which makes the cherry taste sour. Father Longalong, who was a boy in the Philippines, said he, too, has a new appreciation for the “work of human hands.”
“My parents would say, ‘Hey, you have to eat every single grain of rice on your plate because each one of them is from the sweat from a farmer’s back,’” he recalled. “And, you know, these cherries are from people who handpicked them. Not machines, they’re people.”
This was the fifth immersion trip for Father Davis, who had also taken trips to Puerto Rico, Montana, Alabama, and West Texas. He recommended the trips to all Catholics, not just priests.
“I’m not just a fan of the [Catholic Extension Society],” he said. “I love the Catholic Extension experience. Because I’m a priest who believes in the corporate works of mercy, which is set out in Matthew 25:35.”
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Father Davis described how in this scripture, Jesus identifies with the poor and needy, and comments that whenever someone has fed and clothed people experiencing poverty, they’ve done so for him.
“So,” Father Davis said. “I really believe that Catholic Extension truly is the Gospel. And as priests, immersion trips correct us to remember why we’re priests to begin with — to be with the people.”
For more information, check with the Propagation of the Faith office, currently administered by Father Thomas Ahern. The number is 718-965-7326.
For details about Catholic Extension, visit catholicextension.org.
This shows great appreciation/sensitivity of the local church in Brooklyn for the plight of others in a different state and iin a different local Church. Kudos!