PROSPECT HEIGHTS — After more than a decade accompanying future priests at St. Joseph’s Seminary and College, Father Michael Bruno will now transition to a new role supporting current priests in the Diocese of Brooklyn.

On March 31, the diocese announced that Bishop Robert Brennan has appointed Father Bruno as the associate vicar for clergy and consecrated life for the Diocese of Brooklyn, effective July 1.

In this role, he will assist Msgr. Sean Ogle, the current vicar for clergy and consecrated life, and Bishop Brennan, in matters of clergy personnel and priestly life and ministry in the diocese, according to the announcement.

Father Bruno said he is “very honored” by the appointment.

“I’ve had a great love for the presbyterate of the diocese that I am proud to be a member of for the last 15 years,” Father Bruno told The Tablet. “So I’m also looking forward to serving and assisting my brother priests in any way I can, and especially keeping the strong fraternal spirit of the presbyterate alive and going.”

The appointment brings to a close Father Bruno’s 12 years at St. Joseph’s — located in Dunwoodie, Yonkers — where, since 2020, he has been the dean of seminarians, tasked with overseeing the seminary’s human formation program.

Father Bruno began his service at the seminary as an adjunct professor of Church history and dogmatic theology in 2013. He was appointed to the full-time teaching and formation faculty in 2015. In 2016, he was named the Cardinal Spellman chair of Church history and assistant director of assessment and accreditation, and in 2017, he was appointed director of institutional effectiveness.

Father Bruno said that there is some continuity between his roles at St. Joseph’s and his new role with the diocese, mainly around the focus on building community. The difference now is he will work with priests and deacons as opposed to seminarians. Still, he said there is also a “practical” aspect of his appointment because, over the years, he’s “been able to both accompany and get to know so many guys who have been ordained [in the diocese], especially those who have studied at [St. Joseph’s].”

Reflecting on his time at St. Joseph’s, Father Bruno said he is “blessed and grateful,” noting it’s been a privilege to accompany men in formation for the priesthood.

“It’s allowed me certainly to see the Lord’s work and the presence of the spirit alive in our region and certainly our local churches, but also especially it’s given me the chance to really walk with people in their formation,” he said. “I feel tremendously blessed to have been a part of their formation as I watch them do so many great things.”

Father Bruno also discussed what an honor it’s been to teach in all of the seminary’s other programs, including permanent deacon candidates and laymen and laywomen who are pursuing a graduate degree in theology.

“The Church is certainly alive in so many ways, and I’ve certainly been blessed to have been at the seminary right at the pulse of that,” said Father Bruno, who is still the Cardinal Spellman chair of Church history and the director of institutional effectiveness, in addition to being dean of seminarians.

St. Joseph’s, through the Borromeo Partnership, hosts seminarians from the Diocese of Brooklyn, the Archdiocese of New York, and the Diocese of Rockville Centre. Additionally, six other Catholic dioceses in the United States also send seminarians there.

Auxiliary Bishop James Massa of Brooklyn, the rector of St. Joseph’s Seminary, is in discussion with Cardinal Timothy Dolan and other members of the Borromeo Partnership about Father Bruno’s replacement, according to the diocese.

Bishop Massa thanked Father Bruno for his service to the seminary.

“Father Bruno leaves seminary teaching and administration with a record of outstanding service in forming a generation of priests,” he said in a statement, “as well as preparing permanent deacons and lay women and men for various ministerial roles. 

“Father Michael is a first-rate scholar, teacher, and administrator — truly, a priest with the heart of Jesus, the Good Shepherd.”