PROSPECT HEIGHTS — A standing-room-only congregation filled the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph on Nov. 17 to join a Vatican official in a celebratory Mass marking the close of the 125th anniversary of Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens.
Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States, celebrated the Mass, which coincided with World Day of the Poor 2024.
Bishop Robert Brennan and Msgr. Alfred LoPinto, CEO of Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens, concelebrated the Mass in the co-cathedral, which seats about 1,500 people.
The congregation represented administrators, staff, volunteers, and clients of CCBQ’s 160 social service programs, such as affordable housing, food assistance, and services for mental health, early childhood development, older adults, and migrants.
“I am here to represent the Holy Father and to be the witness to whatever is being done,” Cardinal Pierre told The Tablet after the Mass. “Catholic Charities is dedicated to helping the people in their sufferings and, may I say, this is one of the big characteristics of the Church in the United States.
“The Church is being fed by the charity of the people.”
CCBQ was formed in 1899 to help orphaned children in the diocese, growing steadily as new challenges emerged ranging from the Great Depression, World Wars I and II, and mass migrations worldwide.
Today, CCBQ said it serves more than five million people of all ages, ethnicities, religious faiths, and even those of no faith at all. It provides $6.5 million annually in food assistance, maintains 4,567 affordable housing units, and serves more than 16,000 seniors annually through Older Adult Services programs.
Bishop Brennan said Cardinal Pierre’s visit, in tandem with the congregation, created “one of those big moments” in the diocese’s history.
“In the church,” Bishop Brennan said, “were people who contribute to all the different workings of Catholic Charities, but also the people who live in the senior centers who take part in the different programs that Catholic Charities offer.” He said “those lines blur” because the people who receive services also volunteer for CCBQ.
One of the people in attendance was Lucia Say, who has a regular presence at the Peter J. DellaMonica Older Adult Center in the Bishop Rene A. Valero Senior Residence, Astoria, Queens.
“This is my second family, my second house,” Say said. “I enjoy every minute of all activities. We do exercises — the tai chi and the dancing — and then we play bingo. And I help in the kitchen. I am so happy. I love to serve.”
Also attending Mass was Scott Tucksmith, who has been a client of CCBQ mental health services for 29 years. He recalled being treated at a New York City psychiatric hospital for obsessive-compulsive disorder and panic attacks and how CCBQ was there afterward to help him find a place to live.
“Before they discharged me, they had to find a place for me to live,” Tucksmith said. “That’s how I came across Catholic Charities. I’ve been in other programs, but Catholic Charities is the best.”
Tucksmith said the CCBQ staff visits him, monitors his condition, assists with paperwork, helps with his rent, and makes sure his prescriptions are filled and taken regularly.
“I don’t know where I would be,” he said. “I don’t know — I could be homeless.”
CCBQ’s 125th anniversary year also included its annual fund-raiser in September at the 2024 Bishop’s Humanitarian Award Dinner. A record-breaking $2 million was raised, according to the organization.
“That’s the image of the Church,” Bishop Brennan said. “That we’re all walking together, centered in Jesus Christ, as we were at the Mass, and helping each other along the way.”
At the closing of the Mass, Msgr. LoPinto expressed heartfelt gratitude to attendees.
“We’re absolutely ecstatic over all of you being here with us today,” he said. “Moving forward, our guiding question will always be ‘Why?’ Why do we do what we do? As Cardinal Christophe Pierre beautifully articulated, we do it because we are the hands of Jesus, operating out of the heart of Jesus.”
On Saturday, Cardinal Pierre delivered the keynote address — “To Walk with the Poor is to Walk with God” — at the 12th Biennial Poverty Conference, conducted at St. John’s University in partnership with CCBQ. Breakout sessions explored challenges with affordable housing, food, and mental health services.
Cardinal Pierre praised CCBQ for echoing the vision for world evangelization articulated by Pope Francis more than 11 years ago. He noted, however, that CCBQ has already been doing this work for 125 years and has thus “incarnated Christ’s mission in every generation in which it has been active.”
Cardinal Pierre also encouraged CCBQ’s leaders, staff, and volunteers.
“While your work is difficult, and while at times it might seem like, in spite of all your efforts, there is still so much more that you can’t do, every act of accompaniment and love that you perform is of great value to the Lord,” Cardinal Pierre said. “Each person is of infinite dignity and value.”
Cardinal Pierre said after the Sunday Mass that observing CCBQ’s work also made him “very happy as a human being.”
“Jesus said we will always have the poor with us, so we want to try to resolve the problems of poverty, addiction, and misery,” he said. “The Church is alive.”
